Second phase of election on Friday will decide fate of 1210 candidates including Rahul Gandhi

The second phase of the General Elections will decide the fate of 1210 candidates including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as voters spread across 13 states/UTs cast their votes on Friday. In total, there are 89 Lok Sabha seats in the second phase.

In the second phase, elections are being held in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,

West Bengal and Manipur. In Kerala, elections will be held for all 20 constituencies.

Elections are being held amidst a fierce battle between Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition alliance INDIA bloc.

Of these 89 seats, BJP had won 55 seats in the last general elections, while the Congress had 15 seats.

Key candidates who are in the fray during the second phase include Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad, Congress's Shashi Tharoor and BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram, Hema Malini from Mathura, Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, DK Suresh from Bangalore Rural, and Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South.

The voting will begin at 7 AM and will continue till 5 PM.

The first phase of the voting was held on April 19 wherein votes were cast for as many as 102 Lok Sabha seats with over 60 percent turnout.

In the second phase on Friday, polling is scheduled for all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal and one each in Tripura, Manipur and J&K.

Although the political temperature has been rising with every passing day amidst a fierce battle between BJP and the INDIA bloc from the opposition, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has informed the Election Commission that there is no major concern about heat wave for phase 2 of the General Elections scheduled on 26th of this month.

The weather forecast is normal for the 13 States/UTs going for polls in Phase 2. However, the EC, given reports of above-normal temperatures and heat waves in certain parts of the country, had held a meeting with concerned agencies to understand the developing weather situation and discuss measures to mitigate any risk due to hot weather conditions during the period of General Elections.

After the second phase on Friday, elections will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura.