Phase 2 Lok Sabha polls: Voting begins in 88 constituencies; Rahul Gandhi, Hema Malini in fray

April 26, 2024

New Delhi: Polling for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections started in 88 parliamentary constituencies across 12 states and a Union Territory.

While 89 constituencies were slated to go to polls in the second phase, voting in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul was advanced to the third phase on May 7 following the death of the BSP candidate in the fray.

Out of the 88 constituencies in the second phase, 73 are general seats, while 6 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 9 for Scheduled Castes (SC).

Over 16 lakh Polling officials will welcome over 15.88 crore voters across 1.67 lakh polling stations in the second phase.

Voting time increased following hot weather conditions

The voting commenced at 7 a.m. on Friday and will continue until 5 p.m. However, in some places, the polling time for voting may vary as per the local weather.

Due to the hot weather conditions, the polling time at several polling centres in several Bihar constituencies has been extended until 6 p.m. to facilitate the voters.

Notable Candidates in second phase

Among the notable candidates contesting in this phase are Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Kerala’s Wayanad, where he faces the CPI’s Annie Raja and state BJP chief K. Surendran, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor vs BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram, Hema Malini from UP’s Mathura, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from the state’s Rajnandgaon, Congress leader D.K. Suresh from Bangalore Rural, and BJP youth leader Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, his ministerial colleague Kailash Choudhury from Barmer, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from Kota.

This phase will mark the completion of elections in Kerala, where polling is underway in all 20 seats, Manipur, where the remaining part of Outer Manipur is voting, as well as Tripura and Rajasthan, where polling was also held in the first phase on April 19.

It second phase also marked the commencement of elections in Karnataka, where polling is underway in half of the state’s 28 seats, mostly in the southern part of the state. The seats where voting commenced in the first phase of elections in the state are Udupi Chikamagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikballapur, and Kolar