India, March 30 -- By 8.30 in the morning in the Punalur assembly constituency of Kollam district, the heat is already oppressive. A narrow residential lane hums with election activity, but the energy feels strained. Major candidates C Ajay Prasad (Left Democratic Front), Noushad Younis (United Democratic Front), and B Raghunathan Pillai (National Democratic Alliance) move from gate to gate, greeting voters with small groups of workers. Located along the foothills of the southern Western Ghats, Punalur is among the hottest regions in Kerala and has occasionally recorded the highest temperatures in the country.

Within minutes of campaigning, shirts are soaked, faces glisten, and the pace slows. At one house, an elderly woman refuses to st...