Lucknow: Polling has begun for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, covering 13 parliamentary constituencies on Monday.
All eyes are on the prestigious Kannauj seat from where Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav is seeking election.
Another prominent candidate in the fray in this round is Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, who is contesting from Lakhimpur Kheri.
Voting will take place in Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Dhaurhara, Sitapur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich.
The five reserved seats in this phase are Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Etawah and Bahraich. A total of 130 candidates are in the poll fray in this phase.
According to Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, Navdeep Rinwa, in all, 13 constituencies have 1.31 crore male voters and 1.15 crore female voters, and 947 third-gender voters.
A total of 130 candidates are contesting in this phase with a maximum of 15 contestants from the Kannauj seat.
Among the 13 poll-bound constituencies, Kannauj will see a contest between the SP Chief and sitting BJP MP Subrat Pathak, while in Unnao, incumbent BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj is pitted against SP’s Annu Tandon, a former MP.
Tandon had contested against Sakshi Maharaj as a Congress candidate in 2014 and 2019 but had lost on both occasions. She had won the Unnao Lok Sabha seat in 2009 on a Congress ticket.
Of the 13 parliamentary constituencies going to polls in the fourth phase, the BJP has reposed its faith in 11 sitting MPs by giving them tickets, while it has fielded new candidates Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur and Anand Kumar from the Bahraich (SC) seat.
In the INDIA bloc, the SP has fielded candidates from 11 Lok Sabha seats in this phase, while on two seats — Kanpur (Alok Misra) and Sitapur (Rakesh Rathor) — candidates of the Congress are in the fray.
Four BJP candidates — Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni (Lakhimpur Kheri), Rekha Verma (Dhaurhara), Mukesh Rajput (Farrukhabad) and Devendra Singh Bhole (Akbarpur) — are eyeing a hat-trick, while Rajesh Verma is eyeing a fifth term from Sitapur.
Ashok Kumar Rawat and Ram Shankar Katheria are eyeing a fourth term from Misrikh (SC) and Etawah (SC) respectively. Sitting MP from Hardoi (SC), Jai Prakash, and incumbent from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj, is seeking a sixth term in the Lok Sabha.
Apart from Lok Sabha, a bypoll in the Dadraul Assembly constituency under Shahjahanpur district will also take place on Monday. A total of 10 candidates are in the poll fray along with two women contestants.
There are 3.73 lakh registered voters in the Assembly constituency, including two lakh men and 1.73 lakh women, along with 52 third-gender voters. There are 361 polling stations with 438 polling booths, including 65 critical ones.
