After whirlwind roadshows, political tit-for-tats, and a fresh cycle of controversies on redistribution of wealth, inheritance tax and reducing the quota for SCs, STs and OBCs to favour Muslims, the curtains came down on Wednesday evening on a high-voltage campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in 89 seats across 13 States on April 26.
The upcoming second phase polls will cover several important constituencies such as Wayanad (Kerala), from where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), which will witness a high-profile showdown between Shashi Tharoor and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Meerat where Arun Govil who played Ram in the hit Ramayan TV series of the 1980s, Mathura where Hema Malini is seeking reelection, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh from Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) from Mandya.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Amid heat wave conditions, the poll body on Wednesday extended the poll timings by two hours in some assembly segments- Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger Lok Sabha constituencies was from 7 am to 6 pm to ensure enhanced voter participation. In other polling stations in Bihar, under these constituencies, the poll timings remain 7 am to 4 pm.
Staggered over seven stages, the first phase of the elections held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent. After Friday’s phase, polling will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura.
In phase 2, Kerala has a maximum of 500 nominations from 20 Parliamentary Constituencies, followed by 491 nominations from 14 PCs in Karnataka. Minimum of 14 nominations were received from one PC in Tripura. 16-Nanded Parliamentary Constituency in Maharashtra received a maximum of 92 nominations.
According to the Election Commission (EC), 1206 candidates from 12 States /UTs along with four candidates from Outer Manipur PC to contest elections in phase two Lok Sabha polls.
Kerala bore witness to a series of extraordinary scenes and unprecedented campaign maneuvers orchestrated by candidates and party workers on the final day. A total of 194 candidates are vying for the 20 seats in the state, making the April 26 Lok Sabha polls a crucial battleground for the LDF, the UDF, and the NDA. Two union ministers and three actors are among the total candidates who try their political luck this time. Diverse issues ranging from the implementation of the CAA, the alleged existence of ‘love jihad’, controversies surrounding ‘The Kerala Story’ movie, the Manipur violence, Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad, as well as alleged appeasement of minorities by various political parties, dominated the high-decibel public campaigns.
Kerala is expected to witness fierce battles in several constituencies, including Wayanad, where former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is taking on CPI’s Annie Raja. While Kerala has been ruled alternatively by Congress and the Left parties, the grand old party virtually swept the state in the last general elections when it secured 15 of 20 seats. Rahul is contesting from the Wayanad seat, which he had won in 2019 by over 4 lakh votes. This time, he is up against CPI’s Annie Raja and Kerala BJP chief K Surendran. Interestingly, the Congress and CPI are part of the INDIA bloc nationally. The CPI has targeted Rahul Gandhi for his decision to contest from Kerala, where the ruling party says the saffron party does not pose any threat.
In Kerala, the main contest is expected to be between the Congress and the Left but the BJP is also making efforts to put up a fight in some constituencies like Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram. In Thrissur, the BJP has fielded actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who is facing off against Congress’ K Muraleedharan, and CPI’s V S Sunilkumar. Muraleedharan won from Vatakara in the 2019 general elections. Thiruvananthapuram is also a high profile seat here with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hoping to retain the seat for the fourth time. The BJP which has never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Even the final day of election campaign was marked by the presence of various national leaders in the state, including Home Minister Amit Shah, AICC Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who addressed public meetings in various constituencies.
The eight constituencies of Uttar Pradesh which is going to polls are Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura. Prominent among the total of 91 candidates whose future will be decided in the second phase of polling are actor Hema Malini, who is seeking a third term from Mathura; and Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Rama in the famed TV serial Ramayan. He has been fielded by the saffron party from his native place Meerut. He criss-crossed the constituency to seek support of the people. The Congress’ Danish Ali from Amroha and the BJP’s Atul Garg from Ghaziabad and Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddha Nagar toured their constituencies seeking the people’s support.
In Karnataka, a total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first round of voting in most of the southern and coastal districts, where an estimated over 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations. It is a straight electoral contest between the ruling Congress and the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) combine in the state. While the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11, and its alliance partner JD(S) in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar. Besides the three, the segments where elections will be held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.
Union minister Virendra Kumar and Madhya Pradesh BJP chief VD Sharma are among 80 candidates in the fray from six constituencies- Tikamgarh (SC), Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa and Hoshangabad constituencies, which cover 55 assembly segments, in the second phase.
In Rajasthan, other than the Banswara parliamentary constituency, Barmer-Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Chittorgarh and Kota-Bundi are the hot seats in this phase.The other constituencies going to polls are Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Udaipur, Rajsamand, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran. On the last day of campaigning, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut held a roadshow in Jaisalmer in support of BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary. Located along the India-Pakistan border, Barmer-Jaisalmer is the largest Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan. It is witnessing a triangular contest among Independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati, the Congress’ Ummedaram and the BJP’s Kailash Chaudhary.
As many as 204 candidates will battle it out for eight Lok Sabha seats- Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim in western Vidarbha, Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani in Maharashtra.
The second phase of polls would be witnessing a contest between political heavyweights in Balurghat, as the BJP’s West Bengal president and sitting MP Sukanta Majumdar would take on state minister Biplab Mitra.
In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1). In 2019, the NDA had won 56 of these 89 seats and the UPA 24. Six of these seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.
