New Delhi: In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting will be held today on 88 seats in 13 states. The second phase also includes Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, from where former Congress President Rahul Gandhi is contesting for the second consecutive time. Apart from all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 out of 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. Voting will be held on Friday on three seats each and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Voting postponed after death of candidate in Betul
Although voting was to be held on 89 seats in the second phase, but after the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate in Betul seat of Madhya Pradesh, now voting will be held there in the third phase. The Election Commission said that more than 16 lakh polling officers have been deployed at 1.67 lakh polling stations in this phase. According to EC, there are more than 15.88 crore voters in this phase, of which 8.08 crore are men, 7.8 crore are women and 5,929 are of the third gender. According to him, there are 34.8 lakh first-time voters and 3.28 crore voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
1202 candidates are in the fray in the second phase
Keeping in mind the heat and heat wave, the Election Commission has extended the voting time at many polling stations in 4 Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar. The India Meteorological Department has also issued a warning of heat wave and severe heat wave in many parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next 5 days. In the second phase, 1202 candidates are in the fray, of which 1098 are men and 102 are women. The campaign for the second phase ended on Wednesday evening. At least 3 helicopters, 4 special trains and 80,000 vehicles have been deployed for the movement of polling and security personnel.
Voting was held on 102 seats in the first phase.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar, actor Arun Govil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh (Congress), former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (Janata Dal-Secular) are among the prominent candidates in the list. Whereas BJP candidates Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are hoping for third consecutive victory from their respective constituencies. There was about 65.5 percent voting in the first phase of voting held last Friday on 102 seats in a total of 21 states and union territories.
About 65.5 percent voting took place in the first phase.
Last time NDA had won 55 out of 88 seats.
After the second phase on Friday, elections will be completed in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. Whereas in the first phase on April 19, Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (one), Mizoram (one), Nagaland (one), Puducherry (one ), Sikkim (one) and Lakshadweep (one) elections have been completed. In the Lok Sabha elections 2019, NDA won 55 out of these 88 seats and UPA won 24 seats. Of these, 6 seats have emerged after delimitation.
There will be more than 5 lakh first time voters in Kerala
In Kerala, more than 5 lakh voters out of 2,77,49,159 eligible voters will cast their votes for the first time. Rahul is the sitting MP from Wayanad and will face CPI’s Annie Raja and BJP’s K. Is from Surendran. Shashi Tharoor is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram seat for the fourth time and is pitted against BJP’s Chandrashekhar and CPM’s Panniyan Raveendran. Hema Malini, who has been flying the BJP flag since 2014 on the Mathura Lok Sabha seat, is facing Congress’s Mukesh Dhangar, while Congress’s Prahlad Gunjal is challenging two-time Kota MP Om Birla.
Bhupesh Baghel is beating the drum in BJP’s stronghold
Union Minister Shekhawat is contesting from Jodhpur seat for the third time in a row and he is facing Congress candidate Karan Singh Uchiarda. Tejasvi Surya, sitting MP from Bengaluru South and national president of BJYM, will face Congress’s Soumya Reddy. Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel is contesting from Rajnandgaon, which has been a BJP stronghold for more than 30 years. Arun Govil, who played the character of Lord Ram in the TV serial ‘Ramayana’, is contesting from BSP’s Devvrat Kumar Tyagi and Samajwadi Party’s Sunita Verma on the Meerut Lok Sabha seat. (Language)
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