Lok Sabha Election 2024: Phase 2 Polling For 89 Seats Tomorrow; 1,206 Candidates In Fray

New Delhi: Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 89 seats across 13 states.

Among the key contenders is Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, vying for re-election in Wayanad, Kerala.

In this phase, Kerala will witness polls for all 20 seats, along with 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 in Madhya Pradesh, and 5 each in Assam and Bihar. Additionally, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura, and Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls.

A total of 1,206 candidates, including notable figures like Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Hema Malini, will contest in this phase.

The first phase, held last Friday across 21 states and Union territories, saw a turnout of approximately 65.5%.

Following this phase, polling will conclude in Kerala, Rajasthan, and Tripura. Notably, six seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.

In Kerala alone, over 2.77 crore people are eligible to vote, with more than five lakh being first-time voters. Rahul Gandhi faces competition from CPI’s Annie Raja and BJP’s K Surendran in Wayanad, while Shashi Tharoor contests against Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI’s Pannyan Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram.

Key battles also include Hema Malini versus Mukesh Dhangar in Mathura, Om Birla against Prahlad Gunjal in Kota, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat challenging Karan Singh Uchiyarda in Jodhpur.

Furthermore, the electoral debut of actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, famous for portraying Lord Ram in the Ramayan TV series, adds intrigue to the contest.

The Congress aims to regain ground in Alappuzha, Kerala, with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal returning to the fray after 2014. Venugopal, undefeated in major elections, seeks to reclaim the seat lost to the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the 2019 polls.