New Delhi: May 25 is likely to be a tough voting day for citizens in parts of north and northwest India.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that ‘heatwave’ to ‘severe heatwave’ conditions prevailing in these regions, including the national capital, will continue for the next five days.All seats in Delhi and Haryana will go to polls on Saturday (May 25), as will several constituencies in a few other states and Union territories including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.Meanwhile, latest government data shows that water levels in 150 reservoirs across the country are at a five-year low, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.Heatwaves againThe IMD had cautioned on May 18 that parts of north and northwestern India would witness heatwaves and possibly even severe ones till around May 22.On Tuesday (May 21), the IMD confirmed that the regions would continue to experience such heatwave conditions for the next five days.“Heat wave to severe heat wave conditions very likely in many/most pockets over Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, West Rajasthan; in some parts of West Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan & northwest Madhya Pradesh during 21st-25th; in isolated pockets of East Uttar Pradesh during 21st-25th May, 2024,” the IMD said in a press release.Heatwave conditions are also very likely in some parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh on May 21 and 22, and over Jammu division, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and northeast Madhya Pradesh from May 21 to May 25, the IMD said.Additionally, Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region will also witness heatwaves from May 22 to 25, and so too will north-central Maharashtra from May 22 to 24.While citizens in some of these regions have already finished voting, many areas that are predicted to experience heatwaves (and even severe heatwaves) go to polls on May 25 as part of phase six of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.This means that citizens in these regions will have to bear the brunt of extreme heat on voting day.All seven seats in New Delhi – which will also experience the heatwave – will go to polls on May 25, as will all ten seats in Haryana.The severe summer heat has in fact been an issue during voting days in multiple states and regions, though some reports such as this one have claimed otherwise.In Kerala, at least five people died, both during and after voting on April 26 (as part of phase two of the long-drawn seven-phase elections that have been scheduled this time).Per HT’s report, the cause of death appeared to be heat stress, but there has been no official confirmation of this yet.Climate scientist Roxy Koll Mathew had told The Wire on April 26 that the heat is indeed impacting the elections.More recently, citizens in some of the 13 constituencies across Mumbai and north Maharashtra who voted on May 20 as part of the fifth phase of the elections, also complained of difficulties caused by the heat, as The Wire reported on May 21.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray also called out the Election Commission (EC) for what he said was its “absolute pathetic management”, saying that an agency that is ‘boasting’ about a one nation, one poll system in the future “cannot conduct an election process that is smooth in even [one] constituency, forget the entire city”.“Citizens have complained about heat, suffocation in booths, possibly purposeful slow voting (voter suppression) especially in selective constituencies,” Thackeray added in his tweet.“The lack of separate lines for senior citizens and pregnant women in many booths, absence of fans, water and shade have angered the citizens. We Mumbaikars stepped out to vote, but your pathetic management/ purposeful voter suppression methods tried to keep us away from the booths. Nonetheless people stepped out and voted! That, is मुंबई [Mumbai]!”Incidentally, making proper cooling and ventilation available is something government authorities (including the minister of earth sciences Kiren Rijiju) claimed that the government would “ensure” when the IMD released its predictions of the ongoing summer being an ‘abnormally hot’ one in comparison to previous years.The EC had also claimed it would work with states to ensure water availability in voting centres and even erect shamiyanas for shade.Water levels low in reservoirs As per a report by HT, latest government data from the Central Water Commission shows that water storage in 150 reservoirs across the country is at a five-year low.Storage in these reservoirs – whose waters are crucial for drinking, irrigation and power generation – is now only one-fourth of their total capacity, per the report.Water levels in these reservoirs declined consecutively for 32 weeks, the report said; last week, water levels were at 45.2 billion cubic metres, which is just 25% of the total live capacity of 179 billion cubic metres.The report also cited data from Grid-India that shows that these low water levels have impacted hydro-power generation in India – which has now declined to a five-year low of 146 billion kilowatt-hours.