Kerala Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Phase 2 voting tomorrow; 194 candidates, 25,231 polling booths - all you need to know

The stage is set for polling in all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala on Friday, April 26. Kerala, going to the polls in a single phase, will see high-profile contests in several seats such as Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Thrissur. In Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi is up against CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's state president K Surendran. Shashi Tharoor is squaring off with BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram. Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi is also in the fray from Thrissur against K Muraleedharan of Congress and VS Sunil Kumar of CPI(M).        

For 20 seats, a total of 194 contestants are vying for voters' support. There are over 2.75 crore voters in Kerala where polling will commence at 7 am on Friday. Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul said 63,100 bottles of ink are used to prevent fraudulent voting and ensure flawless and transparent elections. 

This time there are 2,77,49,159 voters in the state out of which more than five lakh are first-time voters. Kottayam constituency boasts the highest number of candidates at 14, while Alathur has the fewest at five. Other notable figures are: 13 candidates in Kozhikode and 12 each in Kollam and Kannur. 

Of the total 194 candidates, 169 are men and 25 are women. The Vadakara constituency stands out with the highest number of female candidates, at four. 

66,303 security personnel have been deployed to ensure safe and peaceful polling. Kerala Police and Central forces are providing tight security for the polling in a total of 25,231 booths arranged at 13,272 places. Police deployment has been made throughout the state as per the instructions of the Central Election Commission. 

Two union ministers, a state minister, three actors, and a few MLAs are among the total candidates trying their political luck. BJP-led NDA has fielded the most number of women candidates - five. Kerala saw a highly active and aggressive campaign. Diverse issues ranging from the implementation of the CAA, the alleged existence of 'love jihad', controversies surrounding 'The Kerala Story' movie, the Manipur violence, Rahul Gandhi's candidature in Wayanad, as well as alleged appeasement of minorities by various political parties, dominated the high-decibel public campaigns. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the UDF won 19 of the 20 seats, while the LDF had to settle for just a single seat. The BJP failed to win any seat even though its vote share increased to 13 per cent. 

(With inputs from PTI)