New Delhi, April 25 - The Election Commission has finalized arrangements for the second phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for Friday. This phase will witness voting in 88 constituencies spread across 13 states. Due to the demise of a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, polling for the Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh has been rescheduled for the third phase. Additionally, voting in a portion of the Manipur Outer seat will also take place in this phase.

Seats Up for Voting:

The constituencies participating in this phase include:

• Five districts in Assam: Karimganj, Silchar, Mangaldai, Navgong, and Kaliabor
• Five districts in Bihar: Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur, and Banka
• Three districts in Chhattisgarh: Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, and Kanker
• Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir
• Fourteen seats in Karnataka: Udupi Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru South, Chikballapur, and Kolar
• Twenty seats in Kerala: Kasaragod, Kannur, Vatakara, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Ponnani, Palakkad, Alathur, Thrissur, Chalakudy, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Mavelikkara, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Attingal, and Thiruvananthapuram
• Seven seats in Madhya Pradesh: Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, and Hoshangabad
• Eight seats in Maharashtra: Buldhana, Akola, Amravati (SC), Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani
• Thirteen seats in Rajasthan: Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota, and Jhalawar-Baran
• One seat in Tripura: Tripura East
• Eight seats in Uttar Pradesh: Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahr
• Three seats in West Bengal: Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat

Key Contests and Candidates:

• A high-profile contest in Wayanad, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi faces CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's K Surendran.
• Shashi Tharoor of Congress and Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar contesting in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Hema Malini and Arun Govil, known for his portrayal of Ram in Ramayana, contesting from Mathura and Meerut respectively for the BJP.
• Pappu Yadav contesting as an independent candidate in Purnia, Bihar, creating a triangular contest.
• Bhupesh Baghel of Congress contesting from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh.
• KC Venugopal of Congress from Alappuzha, Kerala; Sukanta Majumdar, BJP State President from Balurghat, West Bengal; Tarachand Meena of Congress from Udaipur, Rajasthan; CP Joshi of Congress from Bhilwara, Rajasthan; Vaibhav Gehlot, son of former Chief Minister, from Jalore, Rajasthan; and Lok Sabha President Om Birla from Kota, Rajasthan, are among the notable candidates.

The first phase of voting on April 19 covered 102 Lok Sabha seats in 21 states, with an average voter turnout of around 64 percent. Re-polling took place in some areas in Manipur. Voting will be held in seven phases, with results expected on June 4.