The second phase of Lok Sabha elections will begin on 18 April, Thursday, with polling in 95 constituencies in 12 states and Union Territories of the country.
The constituencies where polling will be held include 38 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the only seat from Puducherry.
Election in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency was cancelled by President Ram Nath Kovind on the recommendation of the Election Commission after huge amounts of cash were recovered from a godown allegedly belonging to DMK leader Kathir Anand, the son of DMK treasurer Durai Murugan.
Read More: Vellore Lok Sabha election cancelled after cash seizure
Polling will also be held in 5 seats each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, 2 seats in Jammu-Kashmir, 1 seat in Manipur, 8 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Maharashtra, and 14 seats in Karnataka.
Polling is expected to begin by 8 am and end by 5 pm.
A total of 1596 candidates are in the fray for the 17th Lok Sabha from the 95 constituencies.
Among the key contestants from Karnataka in the second phase are former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his grandsons. BJP’s new firebrand leader Tejasvi Surya, too, is in the fray from Bangalore South and so is Congress’ stalwart M Veerappa Moily from Chikkaballapur.
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK+Congress allies are up against the ruling AIADMK+BJP alliance, which also includes Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT), and Puthiya Needhi Katchi (PNK).
Among the main contenders are P Chidambaram’s son Karti, DMK’s K Kanimozhi and Dayanidhi Maran, and BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan.
The Tripura East seat, where 10 candidates are in the fray, was also scheduled to go to polls on 18 April, but the election has been postponed over law and order concerns. On Wednesday, the Election Commission said polling on the seat would take place on April 23.
Here is a look at the seats where polling will take place on 18 April.
Assam
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Karimganj, Silchar, Autonomous district, Mangaldoi, Nawgong
Number of contenders:
50 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, AIUDF
Key contest/s:
Karimganj – AIUDF’s Radheshyam Biswas versus Swarup Das of Congress
Mangaldoi – Dilip Saikia of BJP versus Bhubaneswar Kalita of Congress
Bihar
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Banka
Number of contenders:
68 candidates
Main parties:
BJP+JD(U)+LJP, Mahagathbandhan of RJD+Congress+others
Key contest/s:
Kishanganj – JD(U)’s Sayed Mahmood Ashraf versus Mohammed Javed of Congress
Bhagalpur – JD(U)’s Ajay Kumar Mandal versus RJD’s Bulo Mandal.
Chhattisgarh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker
Number of contenders:
36 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress
Key contest/s:
Rajnandgaon – Santosh Pandey of BJP versus Bholaram Sahu of Congress
Jammu and Kashmir
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Srinagar, Udhampur
Number of contenders:
24 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, PDP, Congress and JKNC alliance; and JKNPP
Key contest/s:
Srinagar – Farooq Abdullah of National Conference versus BJP’s Khalid Jahangir versus Aga Syed Mohsin of PDP
Karnataka
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Udupi Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamrajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur, Kolar
Number of contenders:
241 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress+JD(S)
Key contest/s:
Tumkur – HD Devegowda of JD(S) versus GS Basavaraju of BJP
Hassan – Prajwal Revanna of JD(S) versus A Manju of BJP
Mandya – Nikhil Kumaraswamy of JD(S) versus Sumalatha (Independent supported by BJP)
Chikkaballapur – M Veerappa Moily of Congress versus BN Bachchegowda of BJP
Bangalore South – Tejasvi Surya of BJP versus BK Hariprasad of Congress
Maharashtra
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur
Number of contenders:
179 candidates
Main parties:
BJP+Shiv Sena and Congress+NCP
Key contest/s:
Beed – Pritam Gopinath Munde of BJP versus Bajrang Sonawane of NCP
Solapur – Jaysidhesvar Swami of BJP versus Sushil Kumar Shinde of Congress
Nanded – Pratap Patil Chikkalikar of BJP versus Ashok Chavan of Congress
Manipur
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Inner Manipur
Number of contenders:
11 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, CPI(M)
Key contest/s:
Moirangthem Nara Singh of CPI(M) versus O Nabakishore Singh of Congress versus K Ranjan Singh of BJP
Odisha
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal, Aska
Number of contenders:
37 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, BJD
Key contest/s:
Kandhamal – BJP’s MAK Swain versus Manoj Kumar Acharya of Congress versus Achyuta Samanta of BJD
Sundargarh – Jual Oram of BJP versus George Tirkey of Congress versus Sunita Biswal of BJD
Puducherry
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Puducherry
Number of contenders:
18 candidates
Main parties:
Congress and All India NR Congress
Key contest/s:
Puducherry – Congress’ VE Vaithilingam versus BSP’s AG Pathimaraj versus All India NR Congress’s R Radhakrishnan
Tamil Nadu
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Tirvallur, Chennai North, Chennai South, Chennai Central, Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram, Arakkonam, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Arani, Viluppuram, Kallakurichi, Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Tiruppur, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Dindigul, Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Sivaganga, Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukoodi, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari
Number of contenders:
Around 836 candidates
Main parties:
BJP+AIADMK+Othrs and Congress+DMK
Key contest/s:
Sivaganga – H Raja of BJP versus Karti Chidambaram of Congress
Thoothukudi – BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan versus K Kanimozhi of DMK
Nilgiris – A Raja of DMK versus Thiyagarajan M of AIADMK
Chennai Central – Sam Paul of PMK versus Dayanidhi Maran of DMK
Uttar Pradesh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Nagina, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri
Number of contenders:
85 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, SP+BSP+RLD
Key contest/s:
Mathura – Hema Malini of BJP versus Narendra Singh of RLD versus Mahesh Pathak of Congress
Bulandshahr – BJP’s Bhola Singh versus Bansi Lal Pahadia of Congress versus Yogesh Verma of BSP
Agra – Manoj Kumar Soni of BSP versus Preeta Harit of Congress versus SP Singh Baghel of BJP
West Bengal
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj
Number of contenders:
42 candidates
Main parties:
TMC, BJP, Congress
Key contest/s:
Raigunj – Deboshree Chaudhary of BJP versus Deepa Dasmunshi of Congress versus Kanai Lal Agarwal of TMC