Voting for 88 seats across 13 states and Union Territories in the second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election began at 7.00 a.m. today.

A third of the total 543 Lok Sabha constituencies are voting today, including all constituencies in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura, as well as 14 of 28 constituencies in Karnataka and Outer Manipur.

Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have eight seats each, Madhya Pradesh seven, Assam and Bihar five each, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh three, and Jammu and Kashmir a single seat.

Voters queued up in large numbers outside booths across all five parliamentary constituencies in Assam. Polling began at 7.00 am in Karimganj, Silchar, Diphu, Nagaon and Darrang-Udalguri constituencies to decide the fate of 61 candidates.

Appealing to voters to exercise their franchise, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a post on X said: "As Assam goes to polls on Phase II of the #LokSabhaElections2024, I urge every citizen to vote in large numbers. Your vote is precious and will shape the direction of Bharat in the years to come."

A total of 77,26,668 voters , including 38,61,559 women and 179 third gender, are eligible to vote in 9,133 polling stations in this phase.

Polling for three constituencies in northern Bengal is on in Darjeeling, Balurghat and Raiganj, to continue until 6.00 pm. A total of 47 candidates, including state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, are in the fray for the three seats, with 51.17 lakh eligible voters.

Over 5,200 polling stations have been set up across the three constituencies, and a total of 27,200 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel and 12,983 state police personnel have been deployed, officials said.

Majumdar is fighting TMC's Biplab Mitra in Balurghat, while Bista is up against TMC's Gopal Lama and Congress's Munish Tamang in a prestige battle for Darjeeling.

West Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats will be voting in all seven phases of the ongoing election.