2024 Lok Sabha Elections Phase 2: What's at Stake? Who Are the Key Candidates?

88 seats across 13 states and UTs are voting on 26 April in the second phase of polling.

Rahul Gandhi, Om Birla and HD Kumaraswamy are in the fray in the second phase of polling. 

(Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Eighty eight seats spread across 12 states and one Union Territory are voting in the second phase of polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on 26 April.

The biggest chunk of seats are from two southern states - Kerala (20) and Karnataka (14) - besides 13 seats in Rajasthan.

So which are the states voting in the second phase of polling?

Who are the important candidates?

What's at stake in this phase?

Let's find out.

Kerala

20 seats from Kerala and 14 out of Karnataka's 28 seats will be voting in this phase. The polling in Kerala will end on 26 April. In the fray are heavyweights like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad and Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal in Alappuzha.

The state is also witnessing some high profile contests. For instance, former Union Minister and three-term Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is up against current minister from the BJP Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former CPI MP Pannyan Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram.

Former Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja and a rising young Congress MLA Shafi Parambil are battling it out in Vatakara.

In Thrissur, a seat that the BJP is desperately trying to win, the party candidate and filmstar Suresh Gopi is up against senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan and VS Sunilkumar of CPI.

Another battle that doesn't get talked about enough in the national media is taking place in Kannur, a district with a history of intense political rivalries.

Here sitting Congress MP and the party's state president K Sudhakaran is up against senior CPI-M leader MV Jayarajan, a state committee member of the party and a close aide of CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Congress-led UDF had won 19 out of 20 seats in Kerala in 2019 and the credit was partly due to Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad in the state.

The Congress would want to repeat the sweep while the CPI-M is keen to increase its tally from the solitary seat it won last time.

The Congress reportedly delayed announcing Gandhi's plans of contesting from Amethi or Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh to avoid sending a wrong message before the polling date in Kerala.

Read more about the battle for Kerala's 20 seats in this piece by The Quint.

Karnataka

14 out of 28 seats in Karnataka will be voting on 26 April, the remaining will vote in the next phase. Seats in the southern half of Karnataka are voting in this phase. It is here that the BJP-JDS alliance arithmetic will be tested.

It is also the core area of influence of both Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar. It is a battle of prestige for both these leaders.

The BJP has tried to increase the communal temperature in the run-up to the polling here.

In a rally, PM Narendra Modi accused the Congress of giving Muslims reservations "through the backdoor", a charge that Siddaramaiah called a "blatant lie".

BJP and also Hindutva organisations on the ground have also tried to mobilise support over the killing of a Hindu girl allegedly by her Muslim classmate in Hubbali.

Karnataka is also witnessing a battle between guarantees - the guarantees or schemes being of the Congress government and the 'Modi ki guarantee' being promised by the BJP.

Key candidates in this phase include former CM HD Kumaraswamy of the JD-S from Mandya and his nephew Prajwal Revanna from Hassan.

Three-time Congress MP DK Suresh, brother of DK Shivakumar, is up against HD Deve Gowda's son-in-law in Bangalore Rural.

BJP's Hindutva faces Shobha Karandlaje and Tejasvi Surya are contesting from Bangalore North and Bangalore South. The Congress has fielded former Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Gowda and former MLA Sowmya Reddy against them.

Read more on the battle for Bangalore in this phase in this piece by The Quint.

Rajasthan

The stakes are high in Rajasthan in this phase as 13 out of 25 seats in the state are voting on 26 April. These seats are mostly in the South Western half of the state. The remaining 12 seats have already voted in the first phase on 19 April.

It is in the run-up to the second phase that PM Modi made an alleged hate speech targetting Muslims in Rajasthan's Banswara.

The BJP had won all 25 seats in Rajasthan last time and it is facing a tough time in its efforts to repeat that sweep.

In the fray in this phase are Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla from Kota who is facing a strong fight from former BJP MLA Prahlad Gunjal who is seen as a loyalist of former BJP CM Vasundhara Raje.

Raje's son Dushyant Singh is fighting on a BJP ticket from the family's traditional seat Jhalawar-Baran.

Another former CM's son - Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot - is contesting from the Jalore seat in this phase.

Rajasthan BJP president CP Joshi is contesting from Chittorgarh. Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan Speaker CP Joshi is contesting from Bhilwara. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is contesting from Jodhpur.

The seat that is being watched most closely in Rajasthan is Barmer, mainly because of Independent candidate Ravindra Bhati. A former ABVP leader, Bhati burst into Rajasthan's political scene by winning as an Independent from Sheo in the 2023 Assembly elections. He threw his hat in the ring for the Lok Sabha elections and attracted huge crowds throughout the campaign. This was also partly due to the Rajput community's protests against the BJP over allegedly derogatory remarks by their leader in Gujarat Purshottam Rupala.

If Bhati wins or causes the defeat of the BJP candidate in Barmer, it is likely to be an important event in state politics.

Read more on the battle for Rajasthan's 13 seats voting in phase 2 in this article.

Maharashtra

Eight out of Maharashtra 48 seats are voting in phase 2. These cover parts of the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

Akola is witnessing a triangular contest between Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief and Babasaheb Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, BJP's Anup Dhotre who is the son of sitting MP Sanjay Dhotre and Congress candidate Abhay Kashinath Patil.

Ambedkar was in talks with the Opposition INDIA bloc but the alliance didn't work out.

Another important seat voting in this phase is Amravati where BJP's Navneet Rana is up against Congress' Balwant Wankhede.

The alliance arithmetic in both the NDA and INDIA bloc will be tested in the second phase as the first phase seats were mostly direct fights between the BJP and Congress.

Uttar Pradesh

Eight seats in Western UP are voting in the second phase. The BJP had won seven out of eight in 2019, while the Opposition had won only one - Kunwar Danish Ali of the BSP-SP alliance in Amroha. He is now contesting on a Congress ticket supported by the SP.

Other prominent candidates in this phase include Ramayan actor Arun Govil from Meerut. He is said to be facing a surprisingly tougher fight than expected mainly due to discontent among sections of the BJP.

Filmstar Hema Malini is contesting for a third term in Mathura, a strong BJP seat.

Former Union Minister Mahesh Sharma is once again contesting from Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Madhya Pradesh

Six out of 29 seats in MP are voting in phase 2. The election had to be postponed in Betul due to the death of BSP candidate Ashok Bhalavi. Among the candidates in the fray in phase 2 are Union Minister Virendra Kumar Khatik from Tikamgarh and state BJP chief VD Sharma from Khajuraho.

Assam

Five out of 13 seats in Assam are voting in phase 2. The polling in Upper Assam has already been done in phase 1. Phase 2 includes Darrang-Udalguri, Kaziranga and Nowgong in Central Assam and Karimgaj and Silchar in the Barak Valley.

The first two are newly created constituencies after delimitation. Equations have also changed in the Barak Valley due to delimitation - Karimganj used to be a reserved seat and it has now become general while Silchar has now becomed a seat reserved for SCs.

Key candidates in this phase include BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia from Darrang-Udalguri. Then in Nowgong sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi is up against senior AIUDF leader Aminul Islam and BJP's Suresh Bora.

Bihar

Five seats in Bihar are voting in Phase 2. These are in Purnia and Bhagalpur divisions in the Eastern Part of Bihar, bordering West Bengal.

Key candidates in the fray include senior Congress leader Tariq Anwar who is contesting as the INDIA bloc candidate from Katihar.

Two seats are witnessing keen triangular contests.

In Kishanganj, one of the few Muslim majority seats in the country, sitting Congress MP Mohammad Jawed is up against AIMIM state president and MLA Akhtarul Iman and JD-U's Mujahid Alam.

In Purnia, sitting JD-U MP Santosh Kushwaha is contesting again and his challengers are RJD's Beema Bharti and Congress leader Pappu Yadav contesting as an Independent.

Chhattisgarh

Three seats in Chhattisgarh are voting in phase 2. These include Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and Kanker. In Rajnandgaon, former Congress CM Bhupesh Baghel is up against senior BJP leader Santosh Pandey.

Senior Congress leader Tamradhwaj Sahu is in the fray from Mahasamund.

The election is taking place on the heels of the Kanker encounter in which several alleged naxals were killed.

West Bengal

All three seats voting in phase 2 were held by the BJP in 2019 - Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat. The party's state unit president Sukanta Majumdar is seeking re-election from Balurghat.

The BJP hopes to repeat its sweep of the first two phases and then try and make inroads in the areas voting in the later phases in West Bengal.

The Trinamool Congress has been carrying out an intense campaign spearheaded by CM Mamata Banerjee. West Bengal is being seen as one of the make-or-break states in this election.

Outer Manipur

Outer Manipur is voting in multiple phases due to security reasons. The BJP has been facing flak for the state and central government's mishandling of the violence in the state.

In the first phase of polling also there were allegations of violence by groups like Arambai Tenggol.

Read more of The Quint's ground reports from Manipur.

Tripura

Tripura East seat is voting in phase 2. It is a seat reserved for tribal candidates. Here BJP's Kirti Singh Debbbarma from the royal family is up against CPI-M's Rajendra Reang.

The BJP is confident of winning this seat especially after its agreement with TIPRA Motha that has a sizable following among Tripura indigenous voters.

Jammu

Jammu is one of the national level bellwether seats. It voted for the BJP in 1998 and 1999, Congress in 2004 and 2009 and BJP again in 2014 and 2019.

However, this is the first election there after the abrogation of Article 370. In a repeat of 2019, BJP's Jugal Kishore Sharma is up against Congress' Raman Bhalla.