New Delhi, April 26 (UNI) Amid great enthusiasm, polling began in 88 constituencies spread over a dozen states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at 7 am on Friday in phase two of the ongoing Lok Sabha election in the country.
Over 15.88 crore voters, including 7.8 crore female and 5929 third gender electors, are eligible to choose their representatives to the Lower House of Parliament from a pool of 1202 candidates in around 1.67 lakh polling stations, according to the Election Commission of India.
Of the 88 constituencies, 73 belong to general category, while half a dozen are reserved for scheduled Tribe aspirants and nine for Scheduled Caste nominees.
Polling in this phase was originally scheduled to be held in 89 constituencies, but voting in Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh was postponed to May 7 following the death of the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate.
Since morning, long queues were seen outside many booths, with voters eager to exercise their democratic rights early to escape the scorching heat and oppressive humidity which have inconvenienced people in large parts of the country of late.
Among the star candidates whose fate would be decided in this phase are Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad), Shashi Tharoor and BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar (both from Thiruvananthapuram), Bollywood actress BJP’s Hema Malini (Mathura), former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel of Congress from Rajnandgaon, Congress leader DK Suresh (Bangalore Rural) and Tejasvi Surya (BJP) from Bangalore South.
Apart from the high-profile battle in Thiruvanathapuram between former union Minister Tharoor and current member of the Narendra Modi cabinet Chandrasekhar, Purnia will also be under the public glare following the entry into the fray of Congress rebel and local strongman Pappu Yadav as an independent.
In this phase, elections are being held for all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, 3 each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal and one each in Tripura, Manipur and J&K.
Of these 88 seats, the BJP won 54 in the last general elections, while the Congress had grabbed poll position in 15.
The voting will continue till 5 pm, and upto 6 pm in some constituencies.
To ensure free and fair polls, the Election Commission has decided to do webcasting in more than 50pc of the polling stations along with the deployment of micro-observers in all polling stations.
A total of 251 observers have also been despatched, Besides, 4,553 Flying Squads, 5,731 Static Surveillance Teams, 1,462 Video Surveillance Teams and 844 Video Viewing Teams are on duty round the clock to strictly and swiftly deal with any form of inducement of voters, ECI officials said.
After this phase, elections will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura.
The first phase of polling was held on April 19 wherein votes were cast for as many as 102 Lok Sabha seats with over 60 percent turnout.
Polling will be held in five more phases on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The votes will be counted on June 4.
UNI SSP ARN ING