2nd Phase of Lok Sabha Elections Starts

New Delhi: Polling in the second phase of elections to Lok Sabha began on a moderate note on Thursday during which the fate of prominent leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, George Fernandes, Ramvilas Paswan and Sushma Swaraj will be decided.

Voting began this morning in 140 constituencies spread across 12 states in the second round of the five-phased elections and would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs.

Over 194 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise today across 2 lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and guarded by tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel.

The second phase will also see completion of polling to the assemblies of Andhra Pradesh (140 seats) and Orissa (77).

There are 121 women in the fray in this phase. The states to be covered are Andhra Pradesh 20 Lok Sabha seats, Assam 11, Bihar 13, Goa two, Jammu and Kashmir one, Karnataka 17, Madhya Pradesh 13, Maharashtra 25, Orissa 11, Tripura two, Uttar Pradesh 17 and Jharkhand eight.

While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election from the Nehru-Gandhi family pocket-borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Pawar is contesting from the newly created seat of Madha in Maharashtra and Fernandes from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Other prominent candidates include BJP’s Sushma Swaraj from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Ramvilas Paswan from Hajipur in Bihar.

While Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is contesting from the Chhindwara constituency in Madhya Pradesh, other noteworthy names include Akhilesh Prasad Singh (Purvi Champaran, Bihar), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Vaishali, Bihar) and Raghunath Jha (Valmikinagar, Bihar).

Tight security arrangements have been put in place, especially in naxal-infested states, to thwart any attempt by the ultras to disrupt the elections.

At the end of the second phase, polls would be completed to 265 seats, just seven short of the magic number that parties need to form a government in the 545-member house. Elections are held to only 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.

The Andhra Assembly elections will decide the fate of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy who is contesting from Pulivendla, his rival and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu from Kuppam and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi from Tirupati among others.

In Orissa, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik is aiming for a third straight term in office.