Lok Sabha Elections Phase 2 Live: ‘PM panicking’, says Cong’s Venugopal

Voting for the second of seven-phase Lok Sabha elections began at 7am on Friday, in 88 constituencies across 12 states and a Union territory (Jammu and Kashmir).

Some high-profile names in the fray in this phase include the Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, who are looking to retain Kerala’s Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram respectively; all 20 seats in the southern state will poll today.

From the BJP, Hema Malini will hope for a hattrick from Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura. Overall, as many as 1202 candidates are in the fray from these 88 constituencies, with 158.8 million (15.88 crore) people, including 32.8 million (3.28 crore) young voters and 3.4 million (34 lakh) first-timers, eligible to vote.

The 12 states and the Union Territory where polling will take place in this leg are: Kerala (20/20), Karnataka (14/28), Rajasthan (13/25), Uttar Pradesh (8/80), Maharashtra (8/48), Madhya Pradesh (6/29), Assam (5/14), Bihar (5/40), Chhattisgarh (3/11), West Bengal (3/42), Manipur (1/2), Tripura (1/2), and Jammu (1/5).

In the first leg, voting for which was conducted last Friday, 102 constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories went to polls.

Phase 1: April 19

Phase 2: April 26

Phase 3: May 7

Phase 4: May 13

Phase 5: May 20

Phase 6: May 25

Phase 7: June 1

Counting (for all 543 seats): June 4