Mumbai, April 26 (IANS): Voting started on a brisk note in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections to eight constituencies in the Vidarbha-Marathwada regions of Maharashtra, officials said on Friday.

The constituencies are Akola, Amravati (SC), Buldhana, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim, with a total of 204 candidates in the race.

Queues of early voters were witnessed at many polling stations in Akola, Amravati, Parbhani, Nanded and other places with enthusiastic youngsters and first-timers awaiting their turns.

There are a total of 16,589 polling stations spread across the eight constituencies where a total of 1,49,25,912 voters shall exercise their franchise during the day,

Considering the extreme heat with high temperatures, the election authorities are keeping their fingers crossed on the turnout today.

As in the previous Phase I on April 19, the main battle is between the ruling MahaYuti alliance of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi partnership of Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-Nationalist Congress Party (SP).

Besides, in some constituencies, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is also giving jitters to both groupings for its perceived potential to damage the prospects of the prime contenders.

In the runup to the second phase, many of these constituencies saw high-profile campaigns by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, SS(UBT) chief and former CM Uddhav Thackeray, NCP(SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and other top state and central leaders.