India’s massive election faces heatwave challenge in penultimate phase

The world’s largest election may become the hottest on Saturday, as Indians participate in the penultimate phase of voting with temperatures forecast to surge to 47°C in the capital New Delhi.

More than 111 million people in 58 constituencies across eight states and federal territories are eligible to vote in the general election’s sixth phase, which recorded a turnout of 10.82 per cent in the first two hours of the 11-hour poll. The overall turnout in the same phase of the last elections in 2019 was about 63pc.