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As the 2024 Lok Sabha elections enter their second phase, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress find themselves at a critical juncture. This phase includes 87 constituencies, excluding Madhya Pradesh’s Betul where polling has been rescheduled to May 7 due to the death of a candidate, along with select polling booths in the Outer Manipur seat.
Of the 87 seats, the BJP and its former allies won 62, or 71 per cent of the seats, and another seat was won by its current ally, the Janata Dal (Secular) in the previous general election. Of the total 52 seats that the Congress won in the 17th Lok Sabha, 18, or a third were won from the 87 seats slated for polling on Friday. The Congress won as many as 15 of these in Kerala. The BJP failed to secure any seat in Kerala, but it won 52 of the remaining 67 while its allies won another 10 seats. The Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena won four each. Two independents, which the BJP had supported also won. Rana is the BJP’s official candidate from Amravati this time.
In Mandya, the BJP is supporting its ally Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy. As part of the alliance, the JD(S) is contesting Hassan, which the party’s Prajwal Revanna won in 2019 and also Kolar, a seat that the BJP won five years back but has allocated to the JD(S). The three seats will be contested on April 26, as will 11 other seats in Karnataka. Of the eight seats polling in Maharashtra, the BJP won three and ally Shiv Sena won four. Of the four, only the Parbhani MP is contesting on Shiv Sena (UBT)’s ticket. The other three joined the Eknath Shinde-led Sena.
The polling will take place across 12 states, including Assam and Bihar (5 seats each), Chhattisgarh (3 seats), Karnataka (14), Kerala (20), MP (6), Maharashtra (8), Rajasthan (13), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), West Bengal (3) and Jammu and Kashmir (1).
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