Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Second Phase Tomorrow (image: twitter.com/ECISVEEP/)The second phase of Lok Sabha elections will take place tomorrow, April 26. The voting will be held in 88 across 13 states and Union territories. The second phase of voting will witness a strong contest between the BJP and the opposition led-Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
The states and constituencies including Kerala (20), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (8), Uttar Pradesh (8), Assam (5), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (3), Karnataka (14), Rajasthan (13), and West Bengal (3), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Manipur (1) and Tripura (1) falls under the second phase.
Some of the major constituencies in the poll fray are Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Wayanad (Kerala), Thrissur (Kerala), Barmer (Rajasthan), Kota (Rajasthan), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Gautam Budh Nagar (Uttar Pradesh), Mandya (Karnataka), Dakshina Kannada (Karnataka), Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh), Amravati (Maharashtra), Purnia (Bihar), and Nagpur (Maharashtra).
The key candidates in the second phase include Bhupesh Bhagel (Rajnandgaon), Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad), KC Venugopal (Alappuzha), Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram), Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram), Mansoor ali Khan (Bangalore Central), Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South), HD Kumaraswamy (Mandya), Sukanta Majumdar (Balurghat), Tarachand Meena (Udaipur), Prahlad Gunjal (Kota), Papu Yadav (Purnia), CP Joshi (Bhilwara), Navneet Kaur Rana (Amravati), Vaibhav Gehlot (Jalore), Gajendra Singh Shekawat (Jodhpur), Hema Malini (Mathura), and V Somanna (Tumkur), Arun Govil (Meerut), and Om Birla (Kota).
Kerala
All the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies will go to booths in the second phase. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured 19 seats, while CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) get hold only a single seat. Though CPI(M) and Congress are part of INDIA alliance, in Kerala they are facing election independently. Though BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) failed to attain any seat in the last election, their vote percentage has improved. The BJP’s efforts to gain a foothold in the southern state has opened three-way contest in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.
The polls will be held in seven phases and the counting of the votes will take place on June 4.