India votes in second of seven-phase elections as PM Modi seeks third term
Indians are voting in the second of the country's seven-phase elections | X/@ECISVEEP
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2 voting: The second of India's seven-phase voting began on Friday (Apr 26). Polling is being held in 88 of Lok Sabha's 543 seats across 13 states and Union Territories amid an intense heatwave. A total 1,210 candidates are in the fray. Till 3 PM (IST), many states had crossed half the eligible vote share.
In this election,Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term in a row.
Major opposition parties have the 'Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance' (INDIA) to de-seat Modi and the incumbent prime minister continues to be immensely popular.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded the most candidates in this phase at 74, followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at 69 and the Congress at 68.
By the end of Friday, a third of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats — that will include all seats in Kerala, Rajasthan, Manipur and Tripura, and 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka — will have completed polling.
In Manipur the vote share stood at 68.48 per cent, followed by Chhattisgarh (63.92 per cent), West Bengal (60.6 per cent), Assam (60.3 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (57 per cent), Kerala (51 per cent), Karnataka (50.93 per cent), Rajasthan (50.27 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (46.5 per cent), Bihar (44.24 per cent), and Maharashtra (43.01 per cent).
Other states that are conducting electoral exercise include eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, and one in Jammu and Kashmir.
Lok Sabha Elections Phase-2 Voting: The stars in electoral fray
The BJP is banking on the stars of entertainment world, having fielded actors Arun Govil, Hema Malini and Suresh Gopi from Meerut, Mathura and Thrissur respectively.
While Hema Malini is seeking re-election from Mathura, Govil is in electoral fray for the first time. Gopi was sent to Rajya Sabha as a nominated person of eminence by the President of India in 2016. In 2019, he lost Lok Sabha election and this is the second time that he is contesting.
Notably, Govil played the character of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana TV series in the 1980s.
His popularity saw a nationwide resurrection after the state broadcaster showed a re-run of Ramayana during Covid pandemic and the story of Lord Ram loomed large across India amid discourse related to the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya this January.
Lok Sabha Elections Phase-2 Voting: Key contest being watched out
The top contests that keep the political temperature high include incumbent Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram who is facing the BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Also watch |Lok Sabha Elections 2024: India votes in Phase 2, voting in 88 constituencies across India
As reported in the Battle of the Bastions, a WION special series of political strongholds of India's most noted and voted politicians, Chandrasekhar was confident that he was beating Tharoor, a claim the former diplomat-turned-Congress leader laughed off.
Senior Congress leader Anto Antony is up against the BJP's Anil Antony in Pathanamthitta; the fifth-generation member of Gandhi-Nehru family Rahul Gandhi is up against the BJP Kerala president K Surendran and Communist Party of India (Maoist) candidate Annie Raja.
In Bengaluru South, BJP Youth Wing chief Tejasvi Surya is seeking re-election. He is up against state transport minister's daughter Sowmya Reddy.
Also read |Battle of the Bastions: 'People of Bengaluru South are nationalists. They will back Narendra Modi'The counting of votes is scheduled to begin on June 4.