Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 88 Constituencies In 13 States Vote In Second Phase
The second phase of the Lok Sabha elections kicked off on Friday morning with voting in 88 seats spread across 13 states. Voting for the second phase began at 7 am and will continue till 6 in the evening. The fate of 1192 candidates will be decided by some 16 crore voters on Friday.?
34.8 lakh first-time voters
This includes 8.08 crore males, 7.8 crore females?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.
States going to polls in second phase
Among the states that are going to the polling booth on Friday, Kerala will vote in all its 20 seats, while polling will be held in 14 out 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 will also vote on Friday.
Biggest fight in Kerala
In Kerala, the high-profile contests include Thiruvananthapuram, which sees the toughest three-way fight between incumbent Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI's Pannyan Raveendran.
In Wayanad, Congress leader and incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi is up against CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's K Surendran.
Major candidate in second phase
In neighboring Karnataka, the candidates whose fate will be decided on Friday include Shobha Karandlaje, Tejasvi Surya, PC Mohan, DK Suresh, Rajeev Gowda, HD Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna.
In UP, the biggest names in the fray include Hema Malini, Mahesh Sharma, Arun Govil?and?Danish Ali.
Election Commission appeal to voters
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar urged voters to participate in the festival of democracy in maximum numbers.
"Voters should come to vote without any worry. The festival of democracy is the pride of the country and voters have to participate in it," Kumar said.
IMD heatwave warning
Meanwhile 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.
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