Lok Sabha elections: 2nd phase of polling begins in 95 seats

Polling began on Thursday in 95 parliamentary constituencies spread across 11 states and a Union Territory in the second phase of ongoing elections.

Polling is being held in Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam (5), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (3), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (10), Manipur (1), Odisha (5), Tamil Nadu (38), Uttar Pradesh (8), West Bengal (3), and a single parliamentary seat of Puducherry.

Earlier in this week, President Ram Nath Kovind, on the recommendation of the Election Commission of India (ECI), had cancelled voting in Tamil Nadu's Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, in the wake of seizures of large amounts of unaccounted cash from the state.

Vellore was scheduled to go to polls on Thursday along with 38 other Parliamentary constituencies in the state.

Also, polling in East Tripura constituency has been deferred from April 18 to April 23 based on inputs received that "law and order prevailing in the constituency is not conducive to the holding of a free and fair poll."

Among the heavyweights, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) president HD Deve Gowda is contesting from Karnataka's Tumkur against G S Basvaraj of BJP.

In Mandya, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Gowda is making his electoral debut against a formidable Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh, the wife of late former Congress leader MH Ambareesh.

In Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, who is sitting MP, is contesting Peoples Conference's Irfan Ansari and Agha Mohsin of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

As a precautionary measure, mobile internet services have been snapped in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley.

The constituencies in this phase in UP are- Nagina, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri.

In Aligarh, there is a three-corner contest between sitting MP Satish Gautam of BJP, Bijendra Singh of Congress, and Ajit Baliyan of BSP, while in Fatehpur Sikri, actor-politician and president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, Raj Babbar will contest against Shree Bhagwan Sharma alias Guddu Pandit of BSP.

In Mathura, actor-politician and sitting MP Hema Malini will contest against Narendra Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and local industrialist Mahesh Pathak of the Congress.

In Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram is taking on BJP national secretary H Raja in a bipolar contest where Congress is backed by DMK and BJP by AIADMK.

In Thoothukkudi, Kanimozhi, who is the daughter of late DMK leader M Karunanidhi, will contest against Tamilisai Soundararajan, the head of state's BJP unit.

According to the Election Commission, a voter turnout of 69.43 per cent was recorded in phase one of elections in eighteen states and two Union Territories held on April 11.