NEW DELHI: The country is all set to vote in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections that will decide the electoral fate of 1,203 candidates, who are contesting on 88 seats across 13 states.
The polling was supposed to be held in 89 Lok Sabha constituencies, but voting in Madhya Pradesh's Betul was postponed to third phase after the death of Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) candidate.
All 20 seats of Kerala will go to polls besides 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
After the polling in the second phase, elections will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura.
Voting for the second phase will begin from 7am and will continue till 6 in the evening. General elections are being held in seven phases and the votes will be counted on June 4. In the first phase of polling nearly 63 per cent votes were cast.
EC preparedness for the Phase 2 polling
At least three helicopters, four special trains and nearly 80,000 vehicles have been deployed to ferry poll and security personnel.
The poll body has ensured minimum facilities like water, shed, toilets, ramps, volunteers, wheelchairs, and electricity for convienece for every voter, including elderly and persons with disabilities.
Election Commission of India has extended "a heartfelt invitation to every voter across India" to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the polling. The poll body has also urged the first-time voters to participate in the election.
More than 16 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.67 lakh polling stations for over 15.88 crore voters, the Election Commission (EC) said.
Voters include 8.08 crore male, 7.8 crore female and 5,929 third gender electors. As many as 34.8 lakh first-time voters are registered to cast their votes. Additionally, there are 3.28 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
IMD warning on heatwave
Lakhs of voters will have to bear the sweltering heat when they step out to vote in the second phase on Friday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.
It has issued a red warning for West Bengal and Odisha and an orange alert for Bihar and parts of Karnataka.
The Met office said high humidity could add to people's inconvenience in Tripura, Kerala, coastal Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam, Meghalaya and Goa.
Polling time has been extended till 6 PM in many polling stations in Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger constituencies in Bihar to facilitate voters in hot weather conditions.
High-stake battle in Kerala
Down in the south, two Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala -- Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram -- are set to witness a high-stake battle. In a triangular contest in Wayanad, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will face BJP's K Surendran and its ally CPI's Annie Raja.
Rahul’s contest against an INDIA bloc partner, and not someone from NDA, has soured Congress-Left relations, with Left leaders saying he should have directly taken on BJP, not an alliance partner.
BJP has also fielded Rajeev Chandrasekhar against Congress candidate and three-time MP Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram. In 2019, Congress won 19 out of 20 seats in the state, while the CPM could win the lone seat. BJP failed to open its account.
The contest for the Alappuzha seat in Kerala has turned into a prestige battle for the Congress with All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal's return to the Lok Sabha poll fray after 2014 as the party looks to wrest the only seat it lost to the CPIM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in its landslide 19-1 victory in Kerala in the 2019 polls.
As per the Election Commission, a total of 2633 nominations were filed for 88 parliamentary constituencies across 12 States and UTs going for polls in phase 2 for the Lok Sabha Elections. After the scrutiny of 2633 nominations filed, 1428 nominations were found to be valid.
Key constituencies to go to polls in the second phase:
- Uttar Pradesh - Amroha, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Mathura
- Assam - Silchar, Karimganj, Diphu-ST, Nagaon and Darrang-Udalguri
- Bihar - Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur
- Madhya Pradesh - Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad, Betul
- Manipur - Outer Manipur
- West Bengal - Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat
- Tripura - East Tripura
- Kerala - Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram
- Rajasthan - Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Bhilwara, Kota
- Chhattisgarh - Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker
- Maharashtra - Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal Washim, Hingoli, Nanded
- Karnataka - Mysore, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Mandya
Key candidates to contest in the second phase:
- Rahul Gandhi (Congress) - Wayanad
- Shashi Tharoor (Congress) - Thiruvananthapuram
- Rajeev Chandrasekhar (BJP) - Thiruvananthapuram
- K C Venugopal (Congress) - Alappuzha
- Ravindra Singh Bhati (Independent) - Barmer
- Hema Malini (BJP) - Mathura
- Arun Govil (BJP) - Meerut
- Om Birla (BJP) - Kota
- Bhupesh Baghel (Congress) - Rajnandgaon
- Navneet Rana (BJP) - Amravati
- Banglore South (BJP) - Tejasvi Surya
- Mandya (JDS) - HD Kumaraswamy
Second phase of Lok Sabha election 2024
First phase polling
The first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls ended on Friday (April 18), with 62.37 per cent being the total voter turnout. The voters turned up to exercise their franchise in sweltering heat in 21 states and Union territories, including the big ones like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
The first phase of the polling covered 102 constituencies of 21 states and union territories (UTs). Ten states and UTs were fully covered, while 11 states and UTs were partially covered.
(With agencies input)