New Delhi: Amidst tight security, polling began today (Apr 26, 2004) for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections covering 136 Parliamentary constituencies across 11 States that will decide the electoral fortunes of 1,278 candidates including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and Defence Minister George Fernandes and two former Prime Ministers.

Simultaneously, polling also began for the second and final phase of Assembly elections in 147 of the 194 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 104 out of 294 seats in Karnataka and 70 of the 147 seats in Orissa. With this, the polling would be completed in these States.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

The poll began at 7.00 hrs (IST) and would continue till 17.00 hrs (IST).

An estimated 175 million voters are expected to exercise franchise through electronic voting machines (EVMs) in over 1.72 lakh polling booths, out of which 75,618 have been declared sensitive and 28,119 hyper sensitive.

Tight security arrangements have been made and over one-lakh Central forces deployed to guard against disruptive elements to ensure a peaceful, free and fair poll.

The biggest chunk of 27,700 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been deployed in Srinagar alone from where National Conference chief Omar Abdullah is seeking re-election. A total of 2,076 polling stations in the constituency have been declared hyper sensitive and 1,604 as sensitive.

In Rae Bareilly, where Sonia Gandhi is in the fray, shoot-at-sight has been ordered and additional poll observers deployed to oversee the elections.

The elections today cover 32 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, 24 of 48 seats in Maharashtra, 21 out of 42 in Andhra Pradesh, 17 out of 40 in Bihar, 13 of the 28 in Karnataka, 10 of the 21 in Orissa, eight in Jharkhand, seven in Assam, two in Goa and one each in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir. Polling in Silchar has been postponed due to heavy rains there.

Among other political heavyweights whose electoral fates will be decided in the second phase are Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav pitted against Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Bihar's Chapra seat, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik taking on cine star Govinda from Mumbai North, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati in Akbarpur, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar from Baramati, former Prime Ministers Chandrashekhar (Ballia) and H D Deve Gowda (Hassan) and Defence Minister George Fernandes (Muzaffarpur).

Besides Naik and Rudy, fate of eight other Union Ministers will be decided in the hustings.

The electoral fortunes of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Karnataka counterpart S M Krishna will also be decided in the Assembly polls today.

With the completion of the second phase, polling will be over in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Orissa, Goa and Manipur.

The first phase held on April 20 saw completion of polling in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Elections to two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura were held on April 22.