Polling in the second phase of elections to Lok Sabha began on a moderate note today during which the fate of prominent leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, George Fernandes, Ramvilas Paswan and Sushma Swaraj will be decided.
Voting began this morning in 140 constituencies spread across 12 states in the second round of the five-phased elections and would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs.
Over 194 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise today across two lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and guarded by tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel.
The second phase will also see completion of polling to the assemblies of Andhra Pradesh (140 seats) and Orissa (77).
There are 121 women in the fray in this phase. The states to be covered are Andhra Pradesh 20 Lok Sabha seats, Assam 11, Bihar 13, Goa two, Jammu and Kashmir one, Karnataka 17, Madhya Pradesh 13, Maharashtra 25, Orissa 11, Tripura two, Uttar Pradesh 17 and Jharkhand eight.
While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election from the Nehru-Gandhi family pocket-borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Pawar is contesting from the newly created seat of Madha in Maharashtra and Fernandes from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
