LUCKNOW: As many as 16 people, including 12 personnel on election duty, are suspected to have died due to the intense heatwave across three districts -- Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and Rae Bareli -- of Uttar Pradesh on Friday afternoon.
The state is reeling from the heatwave even as voting for the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for Saturday.
Among the deceased, at least five were home guards who died in Mirzapur after reporting for election duty and were about to be dispatched to various polling stations.
Another home guard, who was not on poll duty but was posted in Mirzapur, died during the course of treatment.
According to Mirzapur (Divisional) Medical College Principal Dr RB Kamal, 12 casualties including six home guards were reported in the hospital. Of the 12, three died during treatment. All the victims had high fever, high blood pressure, diabetes and other medical conditions. All those admitted to the hospital were in their mid-50s or above.
He added that 30 security personnel, including one each from PAC, fire service and civil police, were brought for treatment in critical condition to the medical college. “The actual cause of death will become clear after the autopsy report. However, prima facie it looks like the intense heatwave coupled with their prevailing medical conditions led to complications leading to their demise,” said Dr Kamal.
The home guards who lost their lives were identified as Bachcha Ram (50) and Ram Jiyavan Yadav (50) from Gonda, Satya Prakash (52) from Basti, Tribhuvan Singh (51) from Prayagraj, Ram Karan Singh (55) from Kaushambi and Krishna Kant Awasthi (53) from Mirzapur.
Apart from the home guards, the Mirzapur administration also recorded the deaths of three other personnel including Umesh Srivastava, the consolidation officer, health department clerk Shivpujan Srivastava and sanitary worker Ravi Prakash, who were also on poll duty.
District electoral officer (DEO), Mirzapur, Priyanka Niranjan said: "Families of all the victims will be provided compensation. At present, our priority is to hand over the mortal remains of the victims to their families after postmortem examination."
Meanwhile, Mirzapur SP Abhinandan said that the family of each home guard who lost his life will get a financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh from the Election Commission of India (ECI) besides a relief of Rs five lakh from the UP Chief Minister Relief Fund.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the maximum temperature in Mirzapur was 47 degrees Celsius on Friday. For Saturday, the IMD has predicted that the day temperature could go beyond 49 degrees Celsius. Mirzapur will be voting in the seventh phase on Satruday.
Meanwhile, Sonbhadra DEO Chandra Vijay Singh confirmed two deaths of poll personnel on election duty in the tribal district set to vote on Saturday.
In Rae Bareli district, a sub-inspector Harishankar succumbed due to heat stroke. He was deputed at Gora Bazaar-based ITI complex to guard the strong room where EVMs are kept.
