Calcutta: After April 19, today is the second phase of polling across the country. Second Phase Lok Sabha Election 2024 will be held today in 88 Lok Sabha constituencies of 12 states and 1 union territory. West Bengal has three seats. Besides, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir are also voting today. A large section of voters will cast their votes in today’s episode. The National Election Commission has prepared accordingly. Whether the preparations are adequate for free, fair and peaceful elections will be known in a few hours.
Highlights of the second round of voting
- On April 26, the country’s second phase of Lok Sabha polls. Polling will start at 7 am and end at 5 pm. But for those who stand in the voting line during this period, there is a ‘buffer’ of 1 hour. That is, they will get time till 6 o’clock.
- The number of voters in the second phase is slightly more than 15.88 crore. Votes will be taken at 1.67 lakh polling stations. The fate of 1 thousand 202 candidates will be decided in this round of voting.
- More than 16 lakh poll workers are involved in the second phase of polling. 3 helicopters, 4 special trains and around 80,000 vehicles have been arranged for their and security personnel’s transportation.
- Among the 15.88 crore voters in the second phase, 8.08 crore are male voters and 7.8 crore are female voters. There are 5 thousand 929 voters of the third gender.
- According to the Election Commission’s calculations, among those who will vote in this phase, the number of voters aged 20-29 years is 3.28 crore.
- Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura will end after today’s polls.
- Actually, polling was to be held in 89 Lok Sabha constituencies in the second phase. But due to the death of a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the election for Betul constituency in Madhya Pradesh has been postponed for the third phase. As a result, polling took place in 88 centers today.
- 20 seats in Kerala, 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 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 will be polled today. .
- Voting in West Bengal’s Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat constituencies today. Among these, there is a system of ‘Ballot Unit’ in Raiganj. In Raiganj, the number of candidates is 20, while the EVM ballot unit has 15 candidates and a notary option. So 2 ballot units are being kept in EVM in this constituency.
And what…
Heat may be a big problem in this phase of polling. The India Meteorological Department has forecast heat waves to severe heat waves over parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh for the next five days. Keeping that in mind, the Election Commission has extended the polling time at several polling stations in four Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. However, the meteorological department has also said that the discomfort due to humidity may remain extreme over Tripura, Kerala, coastal areas of Karnataka and Assam.
‘The Big Fight’
Kerala’s Waynard is one of the constituencies that are going to polls in this phase. After winning in 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is fighting from here again. On the opposite side are CPI’s Annie Raja and BJP’s K Surendran. Another seat in Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, will also be eyed today. Former minister Shashi Tharoor is contesting on Congress ticket from here. But this time his competition is with Union Minister and BJP leader Rajiv Chandrasekhar. CPI’s Panion Ravindran can also give a tough fight to Tarur. The fate of Hema Malini, the BJP MP from Mathura since 2014, will also be decided today. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is contesting from Rajasthan’s quota on BJP’s symbol. Whether he can score a hat-trick, that too will be decided today. Meanwhile, in Rajnandgaon of Chhattisgarh, there is a fierce fight today. Congress leader and former chief minister of the state Bhupesh Baghel is contesting from here. This Lok Sabha constituency has been a BJP stronghold for the past 30 years. Whether Baghel can make a crack at that base will also be decided today. Besides, the fate of young MP from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency Tejaswi Surya will also be decided today. It remains to be seen whether he can sustain the success of 2019. Among the three polling centers in West Bengal, Balurghat candidate is state BJP president Sukant Majumder himself. All in all, the second round of voting is contested in several high-voltage centers today.
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Tags: Lok Sabha Elections Voting Phase Polling Set Place April Friday
