Voting underway for phase 2 of LS polls in 88 constituencies across 13 states amid searing heat

Voting for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections began on Friday morning. 88 constituencies across 13 states and a union territory, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad, are voting to choose their representatives to the lower house of the parliament.

Polling is underway in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

Overall the 88 seats recorded 9.3 percent voter turnout in first two hours till 9 am. Kerala recorded 8.52 percent voter turnout, Karnataka recorded 9.21 percent turnout, MP saw 13.82 percent turnout and UP recorded 11.67 percent turnout till 9 am, according to the Election Commission.

This phase will decide the electoral fortune of Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram), BJP's Tejasvi Surya (Karnataka), actor-turned-politicians Hema Malini and Arun Govil (both Uttar Pradesh), Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad) and Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram), Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh (Cong), and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS), among others.

During the no-holds-barred campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra kicked up a row on Sunday while addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Banswara. Slamming the Congress manifesto, he alleged that the opposition party was planning to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children" and referred to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's speech in 2006 to contend he had said that Muslims have the "first claim" on the country's resources.

The Congress was quick to react, saying that after facing "disappointment" in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister was resorting to "lies" and "hate speech" to divert people from the real issues. The party also urged the Election Commission to take action against Modi for his remarks, alleging they were 'divisive', 'malicious' and targeted a particular religious community.

Lakhs of voters will have to bear the searing heat when they step out to casr their ballot on Friday. The India Meteorological Department has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next few days.