NEW DELHI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The second phase of India's 17th general elections began on Thursday morning.

As many as 95 parliamentary constituencies are witnessing the polling, which started at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Fate of around 1,600 candidates would be sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Thursday's phase of elections. There are as many as 157 million people who are registered as eligible voters to cast their votes during the day.

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and four ministers in the current government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are in the fray in this phase of polling.

General elections are to be held in seven different phases for the 543 constituencies in the lower house of parliament or the Lok Sabha. The first phase was held on April 11. The last phase would be held on May 19 and the results would be announced on May 23.