India braces for heatwave surge ahead of Lok Sabha Elections Phase II

In its forecast, IMD said that heat wave conditions very likely to prevail in many/some parts of Gangetic West Bengal during next 5 days

As India gears up to vote on April 26 for the second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued forecasts that many parts will continue to witness the rise in temperatures in the next five days. The ongoing heat wave is the second heatwave spell this month.

The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in the coastal areas and 30 degrees in the hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches. A severe heat wave is declared if the departure from normal temperature exceeds 6.4 notches.

In its forecast, IMD said that heat wave conditions are very likely to prevail in many/some parts of Gangetic West Bengal during the next 5 days and over Odisha on 21 and 22nd; heat wave conditions in isolated pockets over East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the next 5 days; over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal on April 24 and 25 and over Jharkhand on April 25.

Severe heatwave conditions are also likely in isolated pockets of Odisha on April 22 and Gangetic West Bengal during April 22-25. Hot and humid weather is very likely to prevail over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Coastal Andhra Pradesh & Yanam, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal, Coastal Karnataka and Kerala & Mahe from April 22-25.

Warm night conditions with a day maximum temperature exceeding 40 degrees Celsius are very likely to prevail over Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha on April 22. The IMD warned of an intense heatwave season this summer and issued advisories to the Election Commission of India (ECI) owing to the Lok Sabha polls.

Here are the list of Lok Sabha constituencies which will go polling on April 26:

Assam: Karimganj, Silchar, Mangaldoi, Nawgong, Kaliabor

Bihar: Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Banka

Chhattisgarh: Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker

Jammu and Kashmir: Jammu

Karnataka: Udupi Chikamagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikballapur, Kolar

Kerala: Kasaragod, Kannur, Vadakara, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Ponnani, Palakkad, Alathur, Thrissur, Chalakudy, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Mavelikkara, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram

Madhya Pradesh: Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad, Betul

Maharashtra: Buldhana, Akola, Amravati (SC), Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani

Manipur: Outer Manipur

Rajasthan: Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota, Jhalawar-Baran

Tripura: Tripura East

Uttar Pradesh: Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahr

West Bengal: Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat