Hyderabad: The second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election will take place on April 26 with 88 parliamentary constituencies going to polls in as many as 13 states as against 89 seats as per the original schedule.
Election in Betul seat of Madhya Pradesh was moved to May 7 (third phase) by Election Commission following the death of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, Ashok Bhalavi on April 9.
In the second phase, voting will take place in five constituencies in Assam, five in Bihar, three in Chhattisgarh, 14 in Karnataka, all 20 in Kerala, six in Madhya Pradesh, eight in Maharashtra, one in Manipur, 13 in Rajasthan, one in Tripura, eight in Uttar Pradesh, three in West Bengal and one in Jammu & Kashmir. It may be noted that 15 ACs in Outer Manipur Lok Sabha Constituency went to polls on April 19 (Phase 1) and 13 ACs from the same parliamentary constituency will go to polls in phase 2 on April 26.
Here is an overall list of constituencies going to polls in Phase 2
Lok Sabha Phase 2 - Key constituencies
Key constituencies going to polls in phase 2 include Kishanganj in Bihar; Silchar in Assam; Kanker in Chhattisgarh; Bangalore Central and Bangalore South in Karnataka; Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala; Damoh and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh; Akola, Amravati in Maharashtra; Outer Manipur in Manipur; Barmer, Kota, Jalore, Ajmer in Rajasthan; Mathura and Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh; Darjeeling and Balurghat in West Bengal, and Jammu in J&K.
Lok Sabha Election Phase 2 - Key Candidates
Hema Malini (Mathura)
Renowned actress and politician Hema Malini is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura constituency, a seat she has been wining since 2014 on a BJP ticket. This time she is against Congress candidate and state president of the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh Mukesh Dhangar.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini polled 5,30,000 votes, triumphing over her closest rival Kunwar Narendra Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) by a massive margin of over 2,93,000 votes.
Arun Govil (Meerut)
TV actor Arun Govil, best known for his portrayal of Ram in Ramayana Serial, has been fielded from Meerut Lok Sabha constituency. Govil is pitted against BSP's Devvrat Kumar Tyagi and SP's Sunita Verma. In 2019, BJP's Rajendra Agarwal had won the seat against BSP's Haji Mohammad Yakub by more than 5.86 lakh votes.
Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad)
Among the biggest names contesting in phase 2 is former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi who would be trying his luck from Wayanad in Kerala, hoping to win it the second time. Gandhi faces BJP's state president K Surendran, while the ruling Left has put forward Annie Raja as contender for the seat. Rahul Gandhi had shifted to Wayanad in 2019 elections after he lost Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Union Minister Smriti Irani by a significant margin of 55,120 votes. In Wayanad, Gandhi secured 706,367 votes against CPI’s PP Suneer.
Om Birla (Kota)
One of the most talked-about seats in Rajasthan is Kota. BJP leader and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, who himself is from Kota is up against Prahlad Gunjal, who joined Congress earlier this year. Gunjal hails from Gujjar community. Birla won the seat in 2014 and 2019 elections by massive margins defeating Congress candidates Ilyaraj Singh and Ramnarain Meena respectively.
Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram)
Contesting from Kerala’s capital, Congress leader and incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor is pitted against Union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP. While Tharoor is bidding for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term from the constituency, Chandrasekhar is making his maiden electoral foray from Kerala and attempting to convert the runner’s-up position the BJP got here in the past two elections into winner’s slot in a state where his party is still in search of its first LS seat.
HD Kumaraswamy (Mandya)
BJP's HD Kumaraswamy is contesting from Karnataka's Mandya, a Lok Sabha seat the saffron party has never won. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh emerged victorious in Mandya, securing over 7 lakh votes and defeating Nikhil Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular), who obtained 577,784 votes.
Bhupesh Baghel (Rajnandgaon)
Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel entry into the electoral fray for the Lok Sabha has further amplified the contest in Rajnandgaon, considered as BJP's stronghold as the saffron party has been winning the seat from the last 17 years. Sitting BJP MP Santosh Pandey is trying his electoral luck for the second consecutive time in the constituency.
Prakash Ambedkar (Akola)
Prakash Ambedkar, the chief of Vanchit Bahujan Agadhi (VBA), and grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, is contesting from Akola Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra. Prakash was a member of the 12th and the 13th Lok Sabha. He however lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. BJP has fielded Anup Sanjay Dhotre, son of sitting MP Sanjay Dhotre from the seat while Congress has fielded Dr Abhay Patil, a Maratha.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jodhpur)
BJP's Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is seeking a third term from Rajasthan Jodhpur. He is up against Congress' Karan Singh Uchiyarda, who is contesting for the first time. Shekhawat emerged victorious in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Sukanta Majumdar (Balurghat)
In West Bengal's Balurghat, the key contest is between the incumbent BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar and Trinamool Congress leader Biplab Mitra. In 2019, Majumdar had won the seat with a margin of about 33,000 votes.
Campaigning for Phase 2 Ends
The campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections ended at 6 pm today (April 24), and with it begins the silence period. It refers to a period of 48 hours before the conclusion of election, during which any form of campaigning is prohibited. This includes public meetings, speeches, interviews, and displaying or propagating election-related material through print, electronic media, or social media.
The purpose of this silence period is to allow voters a calm and peaceful environment for reflection before they cast their votes, without being influenced by last-minute campaigning.
Phase 1 Numbers
Phase 1 of Lok Sabha elections saw around 65 percent turnout in 102 parliamentary seats across 21 states and Union Territories. Voting for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases. The last phase will be held on June 1. Counting of votes will take place on June 4.
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