Phase 2 Lok Sabha elections 2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in record numbers during the second phase voting for Lok Sabha Election 2024 that took place in 88 parliamentary constituencies spread across 13 states and Union Territories (UTs) on April 26.
The Prime Minister especially urged young voters and women voters to turnount in great numbers citing ‘high voter turnout strengthens democracy’
Congress leaders, including Malikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi also issued voting appeals while saying that this election was to 'save the constitution'.
The voting began at 7 am and will continue until 5 pm.
Till 5 pm, Tripura continued to lead the voter turnout (77.53%) charts, while Uttar Pradesh has registered the lowest turnout with 52.74 per cent, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India on Friday.
The states of Manipur (76.06 per cent), and West Bengal (71.84 per cent), Chhattisgarh (72.13 per cent) and Assam (70.66 per cent) have also registered healthy turnouts till 5 pm.
As many as 15.88 crore voters are eligible to vote in this phase. The voters include 8.08 crore men, 7.8 crore women and 5,929 third-gender electors. The voters also include 3.28 crore young voters in the age group 20-29 years. This includes 34.8 lakh first-time voters registered to cast their votes in this phase.
As many as 109 seats had gone to polling in the Phase 1 on April 19. The first phase recorded a voter turnout of around 62 per cent. The counting of votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha Elections will be held on June 4.
The seats going to polls on April 26 include all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Tripura.
Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 2 Highlights:
Voting for the second of seven-phase 2024 India elections began at 7 am 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 are voting today.
In this round of polls, 1,202 candidates, including 1,098 male, 102 female and two transgender contestants, were vying for a seat in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. Voters in four villages of Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, Rajasthan’s Banswara and Maharashtra’s Parbhani boycott polls; Bru voters from Tripura exercised their franchise for the first time.
Polling took place in Kerala (for all 20 seats), Karnataka (14 of the 28 seats), Rajasthan (13 seats), Maharashtra (eight seats), Uttar Pradesh (eight seats), Madhya Pradesh (six seats), Assam (five seats) and Bihar (five seats). Voting is also taking place in Chhattisgarh (three), West Bengal(three), Manipur (one), Tripura (one) and Jammu and Kashmir (one).
Voting in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul, which was scheduled to be held on April 26, was shifted to the third phase on May 7 following the death of Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Ashok Balawi.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP, and actor-turned-politicians Hema Malini and Arun Govil were among some of the prominent candidates on the ballot today.
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Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy accused the ECI of not ensuring transparency in parliamentary elections in the Bengaluru Rural constituency and alleged that the Congress candidate had distributed gift coupons with QR codes to voters. He also claimed that Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP workers were attacked when they tried to prevent distribution of the material.
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 is taking 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).
