Voting for 88 constituencies in the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections across 13 states and union territories has begun.

Asserting that a high voter turnout strengthens  democracy, the Prime Minister especially urged young voters and women voters to turn out in great numbers

Congress leaders, including Malikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi also issued voting appeals while saying that this election was to 'save the constitution'.

The voting began at 7 am and will continue until 5 pm. The Election Commission provides an extra hour buffer period for voters who are already present in the voting queue. 

Overall the 88 seats recorded 39.1% voter turnout till 1 pm, according to the Election Commission of India.  Karnataka recorded 38. 2 % turnout, Tripura recorded 54.98 5, Kerala recorded 38.01, Bihar 35.73 % and UP 35.75 % till 1 pm, according to Election Commission.  

As many as 15.88 crore voters are eligible to vote in this phase. The voters include 8.08 crore men, 7.8 crore women and 5,929 third-gender electors. The voters also include 3.28 crore young voters in the age group 20-29 years. This includes 34.8 lakh first-time voters registered to cast their votes in this phase.

As many as 109 seats had gone to polling in the Phase 1 on April 19. The first phase recorded a voter turnout of around 62 per cent. The counting of votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha Elections will be held on June 4.

The seats going to polls on April 26 include all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Tripura.

Over 16 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.67 lakh polling stations in this phase. Webcasting will be done in more than 50  per cent of the polling stations along with the deployment of micro-observers in all polling stations.