Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and more: Big leaders whose fate will be decided in Phase 2 of Lok Sabha elections

Polling for the second of the seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections is underway. As many as 88 constituencies from 13 states and Union Territories will cast their votes to decide the fate of over 1,200 candidates.

India is holding the world’s largest elections. By the end of Friday, polling will conclude in all Lok Sabha seats of Kerala, Rajasthan, Manipur and Tripura. The voting is already over in all seats of Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim and Lakshadweep after the first phase on 19 April.

As electors head to polling booths amid rising temperatures , let’s take a look at the key contests to keep an eye on in the second phase.

Kerala’s Wayanad

Kerala’s all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies will go to polls on Friday. The state is set to host two high-pitch electoral battles, one in Wayanad and another in Thiruvananthapuram.

Congress’ Rahul Gandhi is hoping to get elected from Wayanad for a second time. He is facing competition from Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI). Both Congress and CPI are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc which is challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given a ticket to its state unit chief K Surendran, who has made it a three-way fight in Wayanad.

Gandhi, who lost Congress’ bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 to BJP’s Smriti Irani, had won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat by a record margin of 4,31,770 votes.

It remains to be seen if Wayanad will prove to be Congress’ safe seat again.

Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is fighting against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP from Thiruvananthapuram.

While the Grand Old Party leader seeks to clinch the seat for a fourth consecutive term, his rival hopes to unseat him and emerge as a giant killer.

Shashi Tharoor is aiming to secure a fourth term from Thiruvananthapuram. PTI File Photo

The CPI has fielded Pannian Ravindran from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has emerged second from the seat in the last two Lok Sabha polls, which has increased its hopes to make inroads in Kerala this time.

Karnataka’s Mandya

Fourteen of the southern state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats are voting on Friday.

Mandya will witness a clash between former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S), which is an ally of the BJP, and Congress’ Venkataramane Gowda, also known as Star Chandru.

Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh had won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, defeating Nikhil Kumaraswamy of the JD(S).

Ambareesh, who joined the BJP in April this year, is not contesting this time.

Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura

Eight of Uttar Pradesh ’s 80 Lok Sabha seats are in the fray in the second phase.

Bollywood star Hema Malini is seeking re-election from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket. She has been winning the constituency for the saffron party since 2014.

Actor Hema Malini is fighting from Mathura on a BJP ticket again. PTI File Photo

As she is aiming for a third straight term, questions have arisen over Malini’s absence from the constituency and showing up only during elections. The Congress has fielded Mukesh Dhangar, who is the INDIA bloc candidate from Mathura.

Chaudhary Suresh Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is also a challenger from the high-profile seat.

Rajasthan’s Kota

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is again contesting from the Kota Lok Sabha constituency on a BJP ticket. However, Prahlad Gunjal’s entry into the fray has made it a tough contest for Birla.

Gunjal, a Gujjar strongman who was two-time MLA from the BJP, joined the Congress in March. As per The Hindu, the battle between the two has turned into a “clash of ego”.

Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon

Former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel is testing his fortunes from the Rajnandgaon seat, where he will be facing the sitting BJP MP Santosh Pandey.

The Congress’ choice to field the former CM, who is originally from Patan, seems strategic as Rajnandgaon is a largely rural seat where the party could try to rely on the erstwhile Baghel government’s agriculture welfare schemes to woo voters, as per a Moneycontrol report.

Rajnandgaon makes for an attractive Lok Sabha battle as the BJP has never lost the seat since the state’s formation in 2000, the report added.

Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut

The BJP is banking on actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in the popular TV serial Ramayan, to win the Meerut Lok Sabha seat. The saffron party’s decision to replace three-time MP Rajendra Agarwal did not go well with its rank and file.

The Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance has fielded a Dalit candidate, Sunita Verma, while the BSP has given a ticket to Devvrat Kumar Tyagi.

In 2019, the BJP had won the seat with a narrow margin of 5,000 votes against Yaqoob Qureshi of the SP-BSP-RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) alliance candidate.

Bihar’s Purnia

Purnia is among the five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar voting in the second phase. The sitting MP Santosh Kushwaha of the Janata Dal (United), which is an ally of the BJP, is vying for a third term from the seat.

He is pitted against three-time MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who is an Independent candidate this time.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has given a ticket to JD(U) rebel Bima Bharati. Yadav is likely to dent the votes of RJD, making it difficult for the party to unseat JD(U).

Other seats

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the royal scion of Mysore, is the BJP candidate from the key seat in Karnataka. He is competing against Congress’ M Lakshman, an engineer-turned-politician.

BJP candidate Kailash Choudhary is vying to retain the Barmer Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. Umeda Ram Beniwal of the Congress is challenging him. Ravindra Singh Bhati, a Rajput rebel who is fighting as an Independent, has made the contest in Barmer interesting.

Tejasvi Surya of the BJP is seeking re-election from Bengaluru South in Karnataka. The Congress is trying to breach the seat which is a BJP stronghold by fielding Sowmya Reddy.

Navneet Kaur Rana is contesting on a BJP ticket from Maharashtra’s Amravati. She is facing Congress’ Balwant Basawant Wankhede and Sanjay Gadge of the BSP.

With inputs from agencies