New Delhi CNN —Indian voters are battling sweltering conditions to take part in the world’s biggest election as a severe heat wave hits parts of the country and authorities forecast a hotter-than-normal summer for the South Asian nation. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a heat wave will affect parts of south and east India until the end of the week, including four states that are voting on Friday. Climate politicsIndia, the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people, often experiences heat waves during the summer months of May and June. But in recent years, they have arrived earlier and become more prolonged, with scientists linking some of these longer and more intense heat waves to the climate crisis. Last year successive heat waves hit India again, closing schools, damaging crops and putting pressure on energy supplies.

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Persons: Gandhi Ray, ”, “, Noemi Cassanelli, Narendra Modi, ” Ray, Commision, Aditya Valiathan Pillai, climatologist Maximiliano Herrera Organizations: New, New Delhi CNN —, South, India Meteorological Department, IMD, CNN, National Disaster Management Authority, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Indian National Congress, World Meteorological Organization Locations: New Delhi, India, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Baripada, Khammam, Banka district, Maharashtra, Pakistan, Mumbai, Bangladesh, Asia, Thailand, Philippines, Mekong, Vietnam