On May 20, five days before polling day in Delhi, the Congress party’s Chandni Chowk president, Rahul Dabla, was rushed to a hospital.
Earlier that day, the India Meteorological Department had issued a “red alert” about severe heatwave conditions in the national capital, with Najafgarh in south Delhi recording a maximum temperature of 47.8 degrees Celsius – the highest of the season so far.
In the Lok Sabha constituency of Chandni Chowk, 46-year-old Dabla had started his door-to-door campaigning at around 6 am. But 12 hours later, while he was still on the campaign trail, his body temperature rose and he began shivering. Party workers rushed him to Sant Pantaram Hospital where doctors said his illness stemmed from dehydration caused by the heatwave.
Dabla spent two days in hospital – his second hospitalisation due to a heatwave in the last 10 days.
Polling in Delhi will take place on May 25, when Delhi’s maximum temperature is predicted to pass 44 degrees Celsius. While party workers are anxious about how this will impact voter turnout, they’re also suffering themselves. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the INDIA bloc in Delhi said the searing heat had taken a toll.
While MPs and candidates of both sides usually “take breaks” in the afternoon, when the sun is at its fiercest, the same courtesy isn’t extended to party workers, who continue to work long hours and long days, regardless of the heat.
Additionally, the Election Commission in March issued 13 pages of guidelines on arrangements to be made on polling day, but polling stations haven’t issued instructions yet, which has rattled workers across parties.
Dabla told Newslaundry around 12 Congress workers in Chandni Chowk fell ill due to the heatwave in the past week. BJP workers also admitted to illnesses but were more guarded in offering up numbers.
“Forget how many workers have fallen sick,” said Aman Verma, president of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Chandni Chowk, “because nothing can come in our way to ensure a third-time victory for PM Narendra Modi.”
Long days, few arrangements
The BJP is a far more sprawling enterprise than the Congress or Aam Aadmi Party when it comes to campaigning. At the state level, BJP cadres are divided into four levels – district, mandal, shakti kendra, and booth – while the Congress has only three lines of command at the district, block and booth. In Chandni Chowk constituency alone, the BJP claims to have 8,000 workers, while the INDIA bloc says it has over 2,000.
Aditya, a Congress worker in Chandni Chowk, said the Congress lost a “large section” of cadre to the AAP after the latter’s victory in the 2020 assembly polls. “This election, even though both the parties have formed an alliance, the cadres are still finding it difficult to work together on the ground. There is a lot of hotchpotch.”
The BJP is a well-oiled machine in comparison. Party workers are connected through WhatsApp and other BJP apps like Saral and NaMo. A senior worker said each district has dozens of WhatsApp groups to connect thousands of workers, while a Congress worker showed this reporter just one WhatsApp group with 97 members for Chandni Chowk.
While work goes on as usual, workers on the ground are concerned about the heat.
A group of BJP workers in Chandni Chowk said their work starts at 7 am with door-to-door campaigning that includes distributing pamphlets and books of speeches by President Draupadu Murmu. They then attend internal party meetings and drawing room meetings with local women to explain the Modi government’s achievements. They also have a new strategy this year, where cadres have regular interactions with NGOs, doctors, beauty parlours, and other locals in the area to expand their audience.
Their day finally ends at 11 pm.
The INDIA bloc begins its day three hours later, at 10 am, kicking off door-to-door campaigning where workers distribute pamphlets, paste stickers, and tell voters about party symbols. They also check voter lists to ensure names haven’t been deleted.
“There is another reason for us to start our work late,” said Kalpana Sharma, 60, a member of the AAP’s women wing. “As women, we cannot step out of our houses until our husbands have left for work.”
Garima Bansal, president of the BJP’s women wing, was scornful when we asked her about this. “You cannot give these kinds of excuses – of household chores – in the BJP. Because we have to meet our targets.”
But while BJP, Congress and AAP candidates take a break from outdoor campaigning from noon to 3 pm, party workers don’t have that luxury. “Because we are not as high-profile as them,” said Congress worker Aditya.
AAP worker Sharma said the heat is punishing.
“When we step out for campaigning at 10 am, we carry lemon juice and toffees in case our sugar levels drop, and water bottles. But as the sun goes down, it becomes really difficult to carry on,” she said. “I believe at least some sort of special arrangement should be made by the party. They should at least provide us with refreshments or send someone along with us who can carry big water containers. Last week, three women from our wing fell sick due to the heatwave.”
Sharma said they’ve now “informed the party that we cannot carry on with the campaign from 12 pm to 3 pm”. The party agreed, she said.
“The heatwave and no arrangement by the party has also reflected on our campaigning too. Initially our plan was to hold drawing room meetings with women everyday but now we were able to hold only five such meetings in the last month,” she added.
Sudesh Gupta, a Congress worker, admitted that “no special arrangements” were offered by the party to counter the heat.
“Our cadre is spending our own money to make any such arrangements. Because today our party is not financially sound,” he said. “But so what? When we had fought for India’s independence, our financial constraints were similar. As the elections are approaching, not everyone can ask for breaks. At the office too the workers have shared the responsibility to arrange for water and snacks in the evening.”
Several Congress workers sounded equally doleful about their party’s finances. Prashad Singh Rathore, a party worker originally from Bihar, told Newslaundry, “Earlier when I would travel to different cities for elections, my train ticket used to be reimbursed by the district president. But now we are bearing the cost because we love our party. Earlier at least our district president would arrange for food or stay but now everything is on us.”
BJP arrangements only for ‘high-profile’ events
BJP workers also complained that the saffron party hadn’t made exceptions to their work schedules. But the BJP’s Garima Bansal said it was “not acceptable in the BJP” to scale back campaigning due to the heat.
“Here, we have to click pictures and show it to senior leaders that we have met our targets of the day,” she said.
A senior BJP worker, who did not want to be named, said, “Despite being such a wealthy party, it does not provide its workers with good facilities during such scorching weather. It does not take responsibility in their day-to-day campaigning.”
He also said the Election Commission should not have scheduled a general election “during such weather”, pointing out that during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, results were declared by May 15.
Another BJP worker, on condition of anonymity, said MPs and candidates aren’t bound by the same schedules as workers.
“Usually the outdoor campaigning of the candidate gets over by 12.30 pm after which they have indoor meetings,” he said. “But that’s not the case with the party workers. And yet the party did not make special arrangements for them. The party should have paid extra attention by ensuring special facilities or giving regular breaks, because they are the lowest in the party hierarchy and are least recognised.”
Aman Verma, the head of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Chandni Chowk, agreed that it’s left to local presidents to try and make arrangements for workers.
“The party provides special arrangements only for the rallies of high-profile leaders like Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani or Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” he said. “The rest of the time, it is our responsibility. So what we do is always carry glucose with us and ask to arrange water prior to reaching our next destination.”
Modi had addressed a rally on May 18 in North East Delhi, where BJP MP Manoj Tiwari is taking on Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar. A BJP worker, who was involved in making arrangements for the event, confirmed to Newslaundry that a lot of the organisation revolved around mitigating the heat.
“We were responsible for sending around one lakh party workers and attendees from three constituencies. As the rally was scheduled in the evening, the attendants had to leave by afternoon,” he explained. “So we provided all of them with refreshments kits, water bottles and cold drinks. That was one of the few rallies for which over 1,300 good buses were also arranged to ensure attendants reach PM Modi’s rally in the scorching heat.”
Meanwhile, workers on the ground fend for themselves. Newslaundry learned that the BJP paid Rs 6,000 to some of its workers for “financial support”, but Congress workers aren’t so lucky.
“So far, the Congress has not given a single penny to its workers in Delhi because there has been no direction from the top level,”said Congress worker Gupta. “Maybe we will be in a position to provide workers with Rs 1,000 after the polls. We are still figuring it out.”
Dable, who was hospitalised, said he was lucky enough to have insurance to cover the costs of his two hospitalisations. “But heatwaves can be a cause of concern for those workers who do not come from privilege,” he said. “Or the EC should have issued guidelines that no campaigning is allowed from 12 pm to 3 pm which would have made all parties care for its workers.”
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