Voting for 88 constituencies in the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections across 13 states and union territories has begun. Over 1,200 candidates, including 4 candidates from Outer Manipur, are contesting the polls.
At 9 am, 9.3% voter turnout was recorded across 13 states and union territories. Chhattisgarh and Manipur recorded over 15% voter turnout while Maharashtra recorded the lowest turnout at over 7% polling. In 2019, over 10% polling was recorded in these 88 seats till 9 am.
All 20 seats in Kerala, 14 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 go to polls tomorrow.
The prominent contestants in the fray for the second phase are Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP’s Tejasvi Surya, Hema Malini and Arun Govil, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.
In 2019, the NDA had won 56 of the 89 seats and the UPA 24. Six of these seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.
Out of the seven stages, the first phase of the elections were held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories. The polls saw a voter turnout of around 65.5%.
