The Lok Sabha election second phase of polling started in 88 parliamentary constituencies across 12 states and one Union Territory.
The polling in Madhya Pradesh's Betul was postponed in this phase to May 7 on account of the unfortunate death of the BSP candidate.
Of the 88 constituencies, 73 general constituencies, 6 reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 9 reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Polling began at 7 a.m. on Friday and will go on till 5 p.m. In some constituencies, however, polling has been extended till 6 p.m. due to local weather. In several constituencies of Bihar, the state BJP chief, K. Surendran, had to announce the extension of polling hours till 6 p.m. to accommodate voters in scorching heat.
Significant candidates in this phase include Congress leader Rahul Gandhi fighting from Wayanad constituency in Kerala against CPI's Annie Raja and state BJP chief K. Surendran. Other significant contests include Congress' Shashi Tharoor versus BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram, Hema Malini in UP's Mathura, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in Rajnandgaon, Congress leader D.K. Suresh in Bangalore Rural, BJP youth leader Tejasvi Surya in Bangalore South, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, ministerial colleague Kailash Choudhury in Barmer, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in Kota.
This is the last day of voting for Kerala, Manipur (Outer Manipur), Tripura, and Rajasthan—places that were part of the first phase on 19 April—making it the last phase of voting. The first-phase constituencies in Karnataka include Udupi Chikamagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikballapur, and Kolar.
Voting also continued in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
More than 1.60 lakh of polling officers were deployed at 1,67,000 polling centers to cater to over 15.88 crore of voters, which included 3.48 lakh first-time voters and 3.28 crore young voters between the age group of 20 and 29.
There are special provisions provided for 14.78 lakh registered voters over 85 years of age, 42,226 voters above 100 years of age, and 1.47 lakh registered differently-abled voters, who could vote comfortably from home.
Out of the 1,202 candidates contesting, 1,098 are male, 102 are female, and 2 are of the third gender.
To facilitate the movement of polling and security personnel, four helicopters, three special trains, and approximately 80,000 vehicles have been deployed.
Micro-observers are stationed at all polling centers, with webcasting covering over 50 per cent of the polling centers, totaling more than 1,00,000 centers.
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