Lok Sabha 2024: Second phase polling for 88 seats ongoing
Voting for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections is underway across 88 seats in 13 states and Union territories.
This includes all 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in Chhattisgarh and Bengal, and one each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Originally, 89 constituencies were slated for this phase, but the polling in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul was rescheduled due to the demise of a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj Party. Betul will now vote in the third phase on May 7.
In the 2019 elections, the ruling BJP-led NDA won 56 of these 89 seats, while the opposition UPA secured 24.
Among the 89 are three seats in north Bengal–Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat, all currently held by th BJP. The party has retained Raju Bista and state BJP President Dr Sukanta Majumder for Darjeeling and Balurghat, respectively, while Kartick Chandra Paul is the new candidate for Raiganj, replacing Debasree Choudhury, who has been shifted to South Kolkata.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded former state bureaucrat Gopal Lama from Darjeeling. Turncoat BJP MLA Krishna Kalyani has been made the party’s candidate from Raiganj and state minister Biplab Mitra is contesting against Dr Majumder in Balurghat.
Of these three, Mamata Banerjee’s party has never won the seats of Darjeeling and Raiganj and won Balurghat only once in 2014, when it fielded thespian Arpita Ghosh.
