The second phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 begins today on Friday, April 26. The voting will be held in 88 Lok Sabha constituencies across 13 states and union territories. The voting has already begun at 7 am on Friday.

In this phase voting will take place in 88 constituencies across 13 states/UTs. These states include Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

All 20 seats in 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 are fighting for sears today.

Over 1,200 candidates, including 4 candidates from Outer Manipur, are contesting the polls.

The EC mentioned that the polling for the 29-Betul parliamentary constituency in Madhya Pradesh was rescheduled in the third phase due to the death of a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The prominent contestants in the fray for the second phase are Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP's Tejasvi Surya, Hema Malini and Arun Govil, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

Out of the seven stages, the first phase of the elections were held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories. The polls saw a voter turnout of around 65.5%.