New Delhi, India – Daily wage worker Mustagir Qureshi decided to cast his vote early in the morning to avoid queuing up under the scorching sun in Uttar Pradesh state’s Sambhal district in northern India.
But as he reached the school-turned-polling station in his native Obri village on May 7 for the third phase of the staggered election, he saw dozens of men wearing skull caps and women in burqas fleeing to avoid blows from policemen carrying batons.
