New Delhi:

“To vote, or not to vote” was a question for Ms Kalavathi, a 78-year-old woman in Bengaluru who was hospitalised after her blood oxygen level dropped earlier this week. She was rushed to a hospital in Jayanagar on Tuesday with symptoms of cough and breathlessness, days before her constituency was scheduled to vote in the second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Ms Kalavathi, however, surprised everyone on Friday when she was taken to the poll booth on a stretcher to exercise her franchise.

According to doctors, her oxygen saturation level was at 80%, which is usually 95% or higher, when she was admitted to the hospital. Upon assessment, she was diagnosed with pneumonia.

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Aravinda GM, the doctor at the Manipal Hospital in Jayanagar, began her treatment and gave her antibiotics along with oxygen therapy, inhalation, antiviral medications, and supportive care.

As her health condition gradually improved and she was shifted to the recovery room, Mr Kalavathi expressed her wish to cast her vote.

She was delighted when the medical team came forward to support her decision to participate in the democratic process.

Assisted by the nursing team, she was then taken to the Jayanagar constituency to cast her vote on a stretcher.

Voting is currently underway across 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. The polling began at 7 am and an estimated 22.34 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am in the southern state.

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Out of 14 segments that are going to polls, the highest turnout of 30.98 per cent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur 29.03 per cent, and the least 19.21 per cent in Bangalore Central.

The turnout was 19.81 per cent in Bangalore South and 19.78 per cent in Bangalore North.

New Delhi:

The voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will take place across 89 seats in 13 states on Friday.

The votes will be cast in all 20 Lok Sabha seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

In 2019, the ruling BJP-led NDA won 56 of these 89 seats, while the opposition UPA secured 24.

Among the prominent contestants are Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP’s Tejasvi Surya, Hema Malini, and Arun Govil, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, and former Karnataka chief minister and JDS’s HD Kumaraswamy.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 2: 5 Richest Candidates

1. Karnataka Congress leader Venkataramane Gowda, who is popularly known as ‘Star Chandru’, is the richest candidate in the phase 2 polling, according to an analysis of self-sworn affidavits of the contestants by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch. Mr Gowda, who is contesting against HD Kumaraswamy, has declared assets worth Rs 622 crore.
2. Incumbent Karnataka Congress MP DK Suresh is the second richest candidate with assets valued at Rs 593 crore. Mr Suresh, the younger brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, is a three-time MP who is seeking re-election from Bangalore Rural. According to his poll affidavit, he has Rs 16.61 crore in banks as deposits, has agriculture land at 21 locations worth Rs 32.76 crore, non-agriculture land at 27 places worth Rs 210.47 crore, nine commercial buildings worth Rs 211.91 crore and three residential buildings worth Rs 27.13 crore.
3. BJP MP Hema Malini, who is fighting again from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat, is the third richest with assets worth Rs 278 crore.
4. Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Sanjay Sharma is fourth on the list. He has declared assets worth Rs 232 crore.
5. HD Kumaraswamy, former Karnataka Chief Minister, is fifth on the list and has total assets of about Rs 217.21 crore.

Phase 2 Election 2024: 5 Poorest Candidates

1. Laxman Nagorao Patil, who is fighting Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra’s Nanded as an Independent, is the candidate with the lowest assets in the second phase. According to his poll affidavit, he has declared assets worth Rs 500.
2. Mr Patil is followed by another independent candidate Rajeswari KR, who is contesting from Kasaragod in Kerala and has assets worth Rs 1,000.
3. Pruthvisamrat Mukindrao Dipwansh, who entered the contest as an independent candidate from Amravati (SC), is third on the list and has total assets of Rs 1,400.
4. Dalit Kranti Dal leader Shahnaz Bano, who is contesting from Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, has declared assets worth Rs 2,000.
5. VP Kochumon, who has been fielded by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) from Kerala’s Kottayam, is fifth on the list with Rs 2,230 assets.

After the second phase, polling will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan, and Tripura. In the first phase of voting 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).