The subsequent phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election is set for April 26, encompassing 88 parliamentary constituencies across 13 states, a slight reduction from the initial projection of 89 seats.
The election in the Betul seat of Madhya Pradesh has been rescheduled to May 7 (third phase) by the Election Commission following the demise of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, Ashok Bhalavi on April 9.
During this second phase, voting will occur in five constituencies in Assam, five in Bihar, three in Chhattisgarh, 14 in Karnataka, the entire 20 in Kerala, six in Madhya Pradesh, eight in Maharashtra, one in Manipur, 13 in Rajasthan, one in Tripura, eight in Uttar Pradesh, three in West Bengal, and one in Jammu & Kashmir.
Lok Sabha Phase 2 – Notable Constituencies
Prominent constituencies up for polls in phase 2 encompass Kishanganj in Bihar; Silchar in Assam; Kanker in Chhattisgarh; Bangalore Central and Bangalore South in Karnataka; Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala; Damoh and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh; Akola and Amravati in Maharashtra; Outer Manipur in Manipur; Barmer, Kota, Jalore, and Ajmer in Rajasthan; Mathura and Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh; Darjeeling and Balurghat in West Bengal, and Jammu in J&K.
Lok Sabha Election Phase 2 – Key Candidates
Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad)
Among the noteworthy figures contesting in phase 2 is former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, seeking his fortunes from Wayanad in Kerala, aiming for a repeat victory. Gandhi is up against BJP’s state president K Surendran, while the ruling Left has nominated Annie Raja for the seat.
Rahul Gandhi had made the move to Wayanad in the 2019 elections after losing Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Union Minister Smriti Irani by a substantial margin of 55,120 votes. In Wayanad, Gandhi secured 706,367 votes against CPI’s PP Suneer.
Hema Malini (Mathura)
Renowned actress and politician Hema Malini is contesting from Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura constituency, a seat she has been holding since 2014 on a BJP ticket. This time she faces Congress candidate and state president of the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh, Mukesh Dhangar.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini garnered 5,30,000 votes, triumphing over her closest rival Kunwar Narendra Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) by a significant margin of over 2,93,000 votes.
Arun Govil (Meerut)
TV personality Arun Govil, best recognized for portraying Ram in the Ramayana Series, has been nominated from the Meerut Lok Sabha constituency. Govil is pitted against BSP’s Devvrat Kumar Tyagi and SP’s Sunita Verma. In 2019, BJP’s Rajendra Agarwal clinched the seat against BSP’s Haji Mohammad Yakub by a margin exceeding 5.86 lakh votes.
Other notable contenders include Congress’ Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram), former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel (Rajnandgaon), Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jodhpur), Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla (Kota), Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar (Akola), and BJP’s Bengal President Sukanta Majumdar (Balurghat), among others.