2nd Phase Poll: 12 States, 140 Constituencies

The second phase polling of the five-phased Lok Sabha elections began on Thursday morning in 12 states covering 140 constituencies. Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are also holding polling for the remaining assembly seats this day. Over 194 million voters will cast their votes in two lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission across the country.

The states to be covered for the Lok Sabha polls are Uttar Pradesh 17, Jammu & Kashmir 1, Karnataka 17, Bihar 13, Andhra Pradesh 20, Goa 2, Madhya Pradesh 13, Maharashtra 25, Orissa 11, Assam 11, Tripura 2, and Jharkhand for 8 parliamentary constituencies.

Uttar Pradesh: People of 17 Lok Sabha constituencies will decide the fate of a total of 324 candidates including the scion of Nehru-Gandhi family Rahul Gandhi. 27,000 polling stations have been set up under tight security where nearly 25 million people are eligible to exercise their franchise in the second phase.

Jammu & Kashmir: Udhampur, one of the two Lok Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir went to poll on Thursday. The constituency has witnessed gunbattles between security personnel and militants just a day before the poll which might cast a shadow over the polls.

Karnataka: The first of the two-phase poll in the state began this morning for 17 Lok Sabha seats in across 29,000 polling booths. About 20.6 million voters including 10.3 million women are eligible to decide the fortunes of 271 candidates in the fray.

Bihar, Jharkhand: Voting for the 13 of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar opened at 7 am amid heavy security arrangements keeping the series of Naxal violence in the last couple of days. According to the Election Commission, 16.9 million people are eligible to vote this time in those constituencies to decide the fate of 189 candidates.

Also, polling began for eight Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand amid stringent security in the shadow of Maoists violence. Total of 164 candidates are on the kindness of 1,08,16,318 electorate.

Maharashtra: Around 37.7 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 25 representatives out of 372 candidates including 20 women for the 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Among the known faces, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar (Madha), union minister A.R. Antulay from Raigad, Sushil Kumar Shinde from Solapur, BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde and Congress candidate from Pune Suresh Kalmadi are in the fray.

Andhra Pradesh: A total of 20 Lok Sabha seats and 150 assembly seats are for poll in the second phase. Over 26.6 million voters will decide the electoral fortunes of 254 candidates for the Lok Sabha and 1,822 candidates for the state assembly.

This time, AP is witnessing a triangular contest between the old rival Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and the new entrant Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) led by Tamil film superstar Chiranjeevi.

Goa: Voting is underway across 1,339 polling booths for the two Lok Sabha seats this morning amid heavy deployment of police forces, though this time there are no paramilitary forces. The main contest is between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-led alliance.

Among the heavyweights, former chief minister and sitting MP Francisco Sardinha of the Congress is contesting against Narendra Savoikar of the BJP. While the first-time contestant Jitendra Deshprahu of the NCP is challenging the former union minister Shripad Naik of the BJP. The Third Front and the Shiv Sena have also fielded their respective candidates in both the constituencies.

Orissa: Second and the last phase polls in 11 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly constituencies in 16,572 booths began on Thursday. Security has been beefed up in many communal and politically sensitive places. A total of 85 candidates for the Lok Sabha and 688 for Assembly are to go through their popularity test as 1,45,09,822 eligible voters are all set to exercise their franchise.

Assam, Tripura: Eleven Lok Sabha seats in the north-eastern state Assam will witness the democratic practice in its second and final phase, while Tripura will vote for the two LS seats in a single phase on Thursday.

Madhya Pradesh: Thirteen of the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies are all set for polls. A total of 198 candidates, including 19 women are in fray in constituencies: Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat, Chhindwara, Hoshangabad, Vidisha, Bhopal, and Betul.

The last LS election (2004) here had brought an overwhelming majority for the BJP (25 off 29). Though the party is looking to maintain its dominance, the Congress is hoping to increase the number tally in its favour.

The second phase polling for Madhya Pradesh will be on April 30 for the remaining 16 seats.

* Compiled by Deepak Kumar Mohanty