The second phase of Lok Sabha election 2024 began on Friday for 88 seats across various states, and the average voter turnout has been recorded at 9.3 per cent till 9 am, two hours after voting began.
Polling for the second phase is being held for 20 seats in Kerala, 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Tripura.
As per Election Commission data till 9 am, 3 constituencies in West Bengal recorded the highest turnout with over 15% eligible voters casting their votes, while 8 seats in Maharashtra recorded the lowest turnout at 7.45%.
Some of the key candidates for this round include Congress' Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot, BJP's Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar -- up against Congress's Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram; actors Hema Malini, and Arun Govil from 1980s iconic serial Ramayan, senior BJP leader Tejasvi Surya and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The most crucial states in this phase will be Karnataka and Kerala. In 2019, BJP won 25 of Karnataka's 28 Lok Sabha seats, but the Congress clinched a win in the last assembly election.
Further south, the BJP is trying to break into the bipolar politics of Kerala. The party is hoping to win in the state, having fielded Union ministers Rajiv Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan.
In Wayanad, a Congress bastion for over 20 years, it has fielded its state unit president K Surendran against Rahul Gandhi.
The next phase of election will be held on May 7. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 – three days after the seventh and last phase of election on June 1.
