Voting for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 has entered the second phase on Friday, April 26, with prominent political leaders like Congress's Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor, KC Venugopal, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Tejasvi Surya, Hema Malini, Arun Govil and Independent candidate Pappu Yadav in the fray from some among the 88 constituencies across 13 states and Union Territories going to polls.

As per the initial Lok Sabha elections 2024 schedule announced by the Election Commission of India, polling was to be held in 89 seats across 13 states and Union Territories in the second phase, however, this was reduced to 88 after polling for the Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh got rescheduled to the third phase due to the death of a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Follow Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2 Voting LIVE Updates

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2 Voting | Key Points

-Voting In 88 Seats In Phase 2: Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls is being held on Friday, April 26, for 88 seats in 13 states and Union Territories. Voting is being held in Phase 2 on all 20 Lok Sabha seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

-Betul Seat Polling Rescheduled: Though voting was to be held for 89 seats in the second phase as per the Lok Sabha election schedule announced by the EC on March 16, polling for the Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh was rescheduled to the third phase due to the death of a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

-15.88 Crore Voters In Phase 2: The Election Commission (EC) said more than 16 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.67 lakh polling stations for over 15.88 crore voters. Voters include 8.08 crore male, 7.8 crore female and 5,929 third gender electors. As many as 34.8 lakh first-time voters are registered to cast their votes. Additionally, there are 3.28 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years, the poll body said. All Election FAQs Answered Here

-How Many Candidates: A total of 1,202 candidates are in the fray in Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Of these, 1,098 are men, 102 are women and two are from the third gender category.

Click Here To Know Voting Day In Your Constituency

-Key Candidates And Seats: Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi (Kerala's Wayanad), Shashi Tharoor (Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram), KC Venugopal (Kerala's Alappuzha), Union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram), BJP MP Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South, actors-turned-politicians Arun Govil (UP-Meerut) and Hema Malini (UP-Mathura), and JDS leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (Mandya) are among the key candidates. Om Birla (Rajasthan-Kota) and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Rajasthan-Jodhpur) of the BJP are also seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies.

READ MORE | Rahul Gandhi, Arun Govil, Shashi Tharoor Among Bigwigs In Fray In Phase 2 - Key Candidates & Seats

-Heatwave Preps: In view of the heatwave, the EC extended polling time in several polling stations of four constituencies in Bihar. The India Meteorological Department has also warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days. The Met office said high humidity could add to people's inconvenience in Tripura, Kerala, coastal Karnataka and Assam.

-Phase 1 Stats: The first of the seven-phase elections held last Friday (April 19) for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent.

READ MORE | Full List Of BJP Candidates For Lok Sabha Elections

-Who Won What In 2019: In 2019, the BJP-led 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.