The second phase of the Lok Sabha elections will see voting on April 26 across 88 seats in 13 states. The high-voltage campaign trail wrapped up on Wednesday evening. On April 26, there will be voting across all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 of 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 each in Assam and Bihar, 3 each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Manipur, Tripura, and Jammu & Kashmir.
In the second phase, the fate of heavy-hitters is on the line. This includes Central Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram), BJP's Tejasvi Surya (Karnataka), Hema Malini from Mathura, Arun Govil from Meerut, Congress's Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad), Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, DK Suresh (Congress) brother of Karnataka's Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy (JDS).
The second phase accounts for 16% of the nation's seats with voting on April 26. In the last elections, the NDA secured 61 seats out of 88, the UPA 24, while others gained three. In this phase, public verdicts await for 2 cabinet and 4 state ministers. There are 29 seats which the BJP has never won, with the maximum of 20 in Kerala. Regarding Uttar Pradesh, there are eight seats up for voting, 7 of which were with the BJP in the last 2019 elections.
It's important to note that according to the initial schedule released by the Election Commission, a total of 89 seats were to be voted in the second phase, but after the demise of the BSP candidate from the Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh, the election was shifted to the third phase. Consequently, the second phase will now see voting on a total of 88 seats.
Source: aajtak
Second Phase Voting on UP's 8 Seats
In the second phase, the 8 Lok Sabha seats in UP set for April 26 voting include Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Mathura. The future of 91 candidates will be decided. Among them, Hema Malini running for Mathura for the third time and Arun Govil contesting from Meerut. Also participating are Congress's Danish Ali from Amroha, BJP's Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, and Mahesh Sharma fighting from Gautam Buddha Nagar, vigorously seeking support from their constituencies.
Triangle Contest in UP
A triangular contest is shaping up in UP between NDA, India Block, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Heavyweight leaders from all political factions are hitting the campaign trail. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have campaigned for the ruling NDA. On the other hand, leaders like SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress's Rahul Gandhi, BSP head Mayawati, and RLD chief Jayant Singh have been advocating for their candidates.
According to PTI, Prime Minister Modi accused the Congress of planning to distribute people's property should it return to power, notably during a campaign rally in the heavily Muslim constituency of Aligarh. Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav targeted BJP by stating that derogatory remarks about a specific community insult its members globally. Mayawati, while rallying in Bulandshahr, criticized BJP and reminded that BSP was responsible for developing the Noida and Greater Noida areas, with BJP reaping the credit.
