Indians voted on Saturday, June 1 amid scorching heatwave as India’s elections enter its final phase, reported France 24.
The world’s biggest elections started last month in India, as 969 million people are eligible to vote in India’s elections, according to CNN.
Hundreds of Indians have died during weeks of extreme weather as a heatwave hits the country, reported Yahoo!news. An Indian court called on the government to declare a national emergency over a heatwave in India which pushed temperatures in several cities to above 45 degrees Celsius.
The High Court in the western state of Rajasthan said that “Due to extreme weather conditions in the form of (the) heatwave, hundreds of people have lost their lives this month”.
Populist Prime Minister Narendra Modi may win his third consecutive term. The seven-phase polling process has been taking place over six weeks and then the votes will be counted on June 4.
Many see the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a foregone conclusion, both because of his strong popularity after a decade in office and because of the glaring inequality of opportunity, according to a report by The Guardian.
The Indian National Congress is also running for the elections. It is India’s main opposition which ended the British colonial rule and long led the country. However, over the last decade the current leader’s popularity outweighed the congress’. The congress’ manifesto pledges “freedom from fear” and promises to protect protect various freedoms and religious beliefs.
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