Karnataka Lok Sabha elections 2024: The stage is set for the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha election on Friday (April 26) as voters in 88 constituencies in 13 states and Union Territories will participate in the largest festival of democracy. A total of 14 out of 28 seats in Karnataka will go to polls in the second phase as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aims to repeat its performance from the 2019 elections.
The seats of Udupi Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkballapur and Kolar will vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday. Karnataka has the highest number of candidates in the political fray, with 247 contenders, followed by 204 in the 8 seats of Maharashtra.
In Karnataka, key candidates include BJP's Shobha Karandlaje, Tejasvi Surya, PC Mohan, CN Manjunath and Govind Karjol. DK Suresh, Rajeev Gowda, Soumya Reddy, BN Chandrappa and K Jayaprakash Hegde of Congress and Janata Dal Secular's (JDS) HD Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna are also in the fray. Mandya, Hassan, Mysore, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore South, Bangalore North and Dakshina Kannada are key seats in Karnataka going to polls in Phase II.
Constituencies and candidates in Karnataka Lok Sabha elections Phase 2
- Mandya: HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) and Venkataramane Gowda (Congress)
- Kolar: KV Gowtham (Congress) vs M Mallesh Babu (JDS)
- Udupi Chikmagalur: Kota Srinivas Poojary (BJP) vs K Jayaprakash Hegde (Congress)
- Hassan: Prajwal Revanna (JDS) vs Shreyas M Patel (Congress)
- Mysore: Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar (BJP) vs M Lakshmana (Congress)
- Tumkur: V Somanna (BJP) vs SP Muddahanumegowda (Congress)
- Chitradurga: Govind Karjol (BJP) vs BN Chandrappa (Congress)
- Chikkballapur: Dr K Sudhakar (BJP) vs MS Raksha Ramaiah (Congress)
- Bangalore Rural: Dr CN Manjunath (BJP) vs DK Suresh (Congress)
- Bangalore South: Tejasvi Surya (BJP) vs Sowmya Reddy (Congress)
- Bangalore North: Shobha Karandlaje (BJP) vs MV Rajeev Gowda (Congress)
- Bangalore Central: PC Mohan (BJP) vs Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress)
- Dakshina Kannada: Captain Brijesh Chowta (BJP) vs Padmaraj R Poojary (Congress)
- Chamarajnagar: S Balaraj (BJP) vs Sunil Bose (Congress)
Key candidates in Karnataka
The upcoming second phase promises a high-voltage contest with the participation of three former Chief Ministers from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp. Basavaraj Bommai, Jagadish Shettar, and H D Kumaraswamy add fervour to the campaign as they vie for parliamentary seats, representing different constituencies and communities.
This phase will seal the fate for BJP's Tejasvi Surya, Shobha Karandlaje, PC Mohan, CN Manjunath and Govind Karjol, along with deputy CM DK Shivakumar's DK Suresh and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's grandson Prajwal Revanna, who is fighting the JD(S) supremo's key rival G Puttuswamy Gowda's grandchild in Hassan.
The BJP is contesting in alliance with the JDS. The saffron party will contest 25 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka while its ally JDS will contest the rest. Congress is contesting alone in all 14 seats of the state. The stakes are also high for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as he looks forward to a victory on his home turf after a victory in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Congress is relying on the implementation of its populist five guarantee schemes, while the BJP and JD(S) duo is leveraging the "Modi factor" in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. More than 2.88 crore voters will exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations in the second phase. Polling on the remaining 14 seats will take place on May 7.
Karnataka remains the only state in South India where the BJP has managed to make inroads, sweeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka by bagging 25 seats. An independent candidate backed by the party also won the election.
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