NEW DELHI: Another round of high-voltage electoral battle between the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc will be witnessed on Friday with the second phase of voting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections.
Polling in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held in 88 parliamentary constituencies spread over 13 states and Union Territories including the remaining part of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.
The voting is scheduled to start at 7 am across 1.67 lakh polling stations, manned by more than 16 lakh polling officials, amid tight security to avert any untoward incident. It will culminate at 6 pm.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said the polling time has been extended to 6 pm in many polling stations in Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger constituencies in Bihar so that voters avoid hot weather conditions.
More than 15.88 crore electorate will cast their votes to decide the fate of 1, 202 candidates, including 102 women candidates. The eligible voters include 8.08 crore men, 7.8 crore women, and 5,929 third-gender electors. The number of first-time voters is 34.8 lakh.
In the second phase of voting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections, prominent candidates like Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray.
Chandrasekhar is the BJP’s nominee from Thiruvananthapuram seat while Tharoor is Congress’ candidate from the same seat. Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Wayanad, which he currently represents in the House.
Meerut, which is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, is set to go on polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 26. The seat is likely to see a triangular contest among the BJP, the Opposition INDIA bloc and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BJP has replaced three-term MP Rajendra Agarwal and pitted Ramayana actor Arun Govil against Samajwadi Party’s Sunita Verma and BSP’s Devratt Kumar.
The Mathura Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh is one of the high-profile seats up for grabs in the second phase of the Lok Sabha Elections from where actor Hema Malini is eyeing her third victory. The Lok Sabha elections in Mathura will see a triangular contest between the BJP, Congress and the BSP.
Hema Malini is a two-time MP from Mathura who is fielded by the BJP for the third consecutive time from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat, while Congress has decided to field Mukesh Dhangar and the BSP has given the ticket to Suresh Singh.
The first phase of voting took place last Friday with an estimated 62.37 per cent turnout in 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories.
Of the 88 Lok Sabha seats to go to polls tomorrow in the second phase of voting, 20 are in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, six in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Bihar and Assam, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.
Polling in 15 Assembly segments in the Outer Manipur parliamentary seat was held in the first phase on April 19, and 13 Assembly seats will witness voting in the second phase.
The high-octane campaigning for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections came to an end on Wednesday evening with top leaders of the BJP-led NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was his party’s star campaigner in his home state of Karnataka.
The campaign in the second phase was marked by a war of words between the BJP and the Congress over the Prime Minister’s remarks on the grand old party at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday. The Congress called it objectionable and filed a complaint with the poll panel.
The prime minister, while addressing the rally, had alleged that “the Congress manifesto says they would calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom – Manmohan Singh’s government had said Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets.”
Congress overseas chairman Sam Pitroda’s reported remarks on “inheritance tax in US” also stoked controversy with the prime minister tearing into the Congress. The Congress, however, categorically stated that Pitroda’s views do not reflect the position of the party.
The end of the campaigning marked the commencement of a 48-hour silence period.
The last date for filing nominations for the second phase for all 13 states and UTs was April 4.
In the second phase, Kerala has a maximum of 500 nominations from 20 parliamentary constituencies, followed by 491 nominations from 14 PCs in Karnataka. A minimum of 14 nominations were received from the parliamentary constituency in Tripura. 16-Nanded Parliamentary Constituency in Maharashtra received a maximum of 92 nominations.
According to the poll panel, for the phase 2 of the Lok Sabha polls, three Helicopters, four Special trains and nearly 80,000 vehicles have been deployed to ferry polling and security personnel.
Webcasting will be done in more than 50 per cent of the polling stations along with deployment of micro-observers in all polling stations. Webcasting is being done in over 1 lakh polling stations.
A total of 251 observers (89 general observers, 53 police observers, 109 expenditure observers) have already reached their Constituencies days ahead of the polls. They serve as the eyes and ears of the Commission to exercise utmost vigilance. Additionally, Special Observers have been deployed in certain states.
A total of 4,553 flying squads, 5,731 static surveillance teams, 1,462 video surveillance teams and 844 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock to strictly and swiftly deal with any form of inducement of voters.
The third phase of voting is scheduled to take place on May 7, fourth phase on May 13, fifth phase on May 20, sixth phase on May 25 and seventh phase on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.
Agencies

  BJP, Congress, Election

Agencies