Mumbai: The biggest carnival of democracy, the Indian general elections, entered the second phase of polling on Thursday. Sixteen hundred candidates’ fate would be decided by voters across 11 states and one Union Territory. The results are on May 23.
Ninety-seven seats were scheduled to go to polls but votes in two seats – Vellore and East Tripura – were cancelled later due to corruption and security concerns respectively.
On Tuesday President Ramnath Kovind accepted the Election Commission’s plea and cancelled the voting in Vellore, following the seizure of Rs 11.5 crore from DMK cadre. It was suspected that money was being used to influence voters.
The deteriorating law and order situation was cited for the rescheduling of
polls in East Tripura.
Here is a list of hot seats and top contenders in the fray for Phase 2:
Tamil Nadu
For the first time, Tamil Nadu is seeing polls without the towering presence of its political icons late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa and late DMK leader M Karunanidhi.
Thoothukudi:
A high voltage fight is expected between Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan.
On Tuesday evening, Income Tax department officials raided the house of the DMK leader, apparently after a tip-off. However, nothing was found. Anti-Modi slogans were raised by Kanimozhi’s supporters as the raids were going on.
Sivaganga:
Taking the baton ahead from his father and former Union Minister P Chidambaram, Congress’ Karti Chidambaram will be facing a triangular contest from this seat. A nail-biting finish is expected to be witnessed between Karti, BJP’s national Secretary H Raja and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AMMK) candidate.
Kanyakumari:
BJP’s Pon Radhakrishnan will be locking horns with Congress’ H Vasanthakumar
in the southernmost point in the country. Here religious politics is expected to help the winner.
Karnataka
Tumkur:
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is in the fray from the seat. Gowda has left his traditional turf Hasaan for his grandson Prajwal Revanna. The Janta Dal (Secular) chief will take on BJP’s G S Basavaraj.
The constituency is considered a stronghold of the Congress. The party picked up the seat in 2014 defying the giant Modi wave.
Chikkaballapur:
Former chief minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily would be contesting for the third time from the seat. He will be facing BJP’s BN Bache Gowda, a former labour minister during the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in the state.
This time, the constituency will also see the first woman candidate, S Varalakshmi, of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Jammu and Kashmir
Srinagar:
It is test time for National Conference party chief and three-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah. The PDP has fielded Agha Mohsin and the Peoples’ Conference Party’s Irfan Ansari have been fielded to challenge the top leader.
Udhampur:
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office BJP’s Jitendra Singh would be taking on royal candidate and Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of last Jammu and Kashmir ruler Hari Singh.
To avoid the split of votes, NC and PDP have not fielded candidates.
Maharsahtra
Nanded:
This crucial parliamentary constituency has seen political rallies by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. The high-profile seat was one of the only two seats of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha constituencies that Congress’s Ashok Chavan managed to grab during the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014.
State Congress chief and former chief minister Chavan will fight against BJP’s Pratap Chikhalikar.
Uttar Pradesh
Mathura:
Bollywood’s dream girl will be making her statement from the temple town. In 2014, BJP’s Hema Malini defeated RLD’s sitting MP Jayant Chaudhary with a big margin of 330,743 votes.
This time, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has given the ticket to Kunwar Narendra Singh and Congress’ Mahesh Pathak is another tough competitor in the mix.
Fatehpur Sikri:
Fatehpur Sikri will witness a fierce triangular battle between Congress’ Raj Babbar, BJP’s Rajkumar Chahar and BSP’s Shreebhagwan Sharma. Agrarian crisis and caste equations would be key drivers in the constituency.
Break-up of the 95 seats going to polls in Phase 2:
| Tamil Nadu | 39-1= 38 |
| Karnataka | 14 |
| Maharashtra | 10 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 8 |
| Assam | 5 |
| Bihar | 5 |
| Odisha | 5 |
| West Bengal | 3 |
| Chattisgarh | 3 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 2 |
| Manipur | 1 |
| Puducherry (UT) | 1 |
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