Anil Antony, BJP's candidate from Kerala's Pathanamthitta, during campaigning
It's time for round two in the marathon Lok Sabha polls, the world's largest election, which runs through the peak of summer until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4.
Eighty nine seats across 13 states will vote today.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 7 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Here's a look at some of the big names who pulled a switcheroo just ahead of the polls:
Anil Antony
Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader AK Antony, joined the principal rival party BJP last year. He's BJP's candidate from Kerala's Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. Anil Antony, 38, steered the Congress's social media cell in Kerala before he quit the party. The BJP expects Anil Antony would be able to expand its presence in the state and gather support from a larger voter base, especially Christians. The BJP has not been able to breach the Left citadel in Kerala. "Every Congress worker believes they are working for a family. But I believe I am working for the country," said Mr Antony, who holds an MSc from Stanford University, in a devastating Parthian shot as he embraced his new party.
Suresh Bora
Suresh Bora, the former president of the Nagaon District Congress Committee who contested the assembly election from Barhampur assembly constituency in 2021, resigned from the grand old party in November last year. He is contesting as BJP candidate from Nagaon. Slamming his former party earlier this month, Mr Bora said the Congress should first guarantee that every Congressman will be within the party and then they should talk about other guarantees. "The main fight in Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency will be between BJP and AIUDF. Congress is not in the race. There is no future of Congress. I was also in the Congress party for many years, but I joined BJP for development. Just within 3 months, the BJP has given the ticket to contest this election from a respectful constituency like Nagaon," Suresh Bora was quoted saying by news agency ANI.
In Assam, only Narendra Modi's guarantee and Mama's (Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma) warranty have worked, Mr Bora underlined. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 9 seats, while the Congress secured 3 seats, and the AIUDF won a single seat.
Prahlad Gunjal
The BJP for the third time in a row has fielded Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from the coaching hub Kota in Rajasthan. Mr Birla faces tough competition from former party colleague Prahlad Gunjal, now a Congress leader. Mr Gunjal, 63, is a former MLA from Kota-North and represented the Assembly from 2013 to 2018. He quit the BJP after losing to Congress' Shanti Dhariwal in the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections. Citing self-respect and alleging that the BJP politics in Kota was dominated by "just one person", Mr Gunjal crossed over to the Congress in March. In 2019, the BJP registered a sweeping victory, winning 24 out of 25 seats.
Rahul Lodhi
Damoh, which the BJP hasn't lost since 1989, in Madhya Pradesh will witness a contest between two Lodhi candidates. The BJP has fielded Rahul Lodhi, who crossed over from the Congress in 2020, while the Congress has named former MLA Tarvar Singh Lodhi. The seat was previously held by Prahlad Singh Patel, a former Union Minister and now a state minister. Damoh will vote today along with six other parliamentary seats in the state. Congress, the main opposition party, had won just one of the 29 seats in the state in the 2019 general elections with the rest 28 going to the BJP.
Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya
Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, a veteran tribal leader of the Congress, ditched his party of 30 years and joined the BJP in February, weeks before polls. Mr Malviya, 63, is contesting the Banswara Lok Sabha seat as the BJP candidate. Congress's Arvind Sita Damor will face-off against his ex partyman in the tribal-dominated seat. Mr Malviya, who began his stint with the Congress as an NSUI leader, was the party's Adivasi face in southern Rajasthan. The state has 25 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won all the seats in 2014. In 2019, the state saw a clean sweep by the NDA.
C Raghunath
C Raghunath, 67, who was in Congress till December last year, is the BJP candidate from the northern Kerala constituency of Kannur. The Congress has fielded Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief K Sudhakaran, 75, from here and the CPI(M) has fielded M V Jayarajan, the Kannur district secretary of the party. "Until recently, everyone spoke about improving the vote share for NDA, but this time we speak about winning seats," Mr Raghunath told news agency PTI.
After today's phase, polling will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1).
Staggered over seven stages, the first phase of the elections held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent.
(With agency inputs)