Voting for the second of seven-phase Lok Sabha elections commenced at 7am sharp. Security has also been beefed up to avoid any unforeseen events. The polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil are among the key candidates in the fray for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls. BJP's Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies.
A total of 88 parliamentary constituencies, spread across 12 states and Union Territories, will go to polls in the second phase of 2024 Lok Sabha elections slated for Friday, April 26. Among the seats up for grabs in the second phase, 20 are in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Bihar and Assam, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. Besides them, polling will also be conducted for the remaining part of the Outer Manipur constituency.