Civiv body polls: Heat fails to dampen turnout

Bathinda: The ongoing heatwave appeared to have little impact on voter turnout during the municipal corporation and municipal council elections, with polling remaining steady through the six-hour voting window, according to data from the Punjab State Election Commission.Typically, turnout dips during peak heat hours between noon and 3pm, but this time the trend remained largely uniform. An initial 13.5% polling was recorded between 8am and 10am. This rose by 18.1% in the next two hours, taking the cumulative turnout to 31.6% by noon.Between noon and 2pm—when temperatures were at their highest—another 14% turnout was recorded, pushing the cumulative figure to 45.6%, indicating no sharp decline despite the heat.Two-hourly data for the 2pm–4pm slot was not available, while the cumulative turnout for the final three hours till 5pm was awaited at the time of filing this report.Punjab sizzled under intense heat, with maximum temperatures ranging between 40°C and 45°C. Bathinda recorded the highest at 45.8°C, followed by Patiala (43.4°C), Faridkot and Ludhiana (42.5°C each), Abohar (42.4°C), Amritsar (41.6°C) and Gurdaspur (41.5°C).