Fate of Akhilesh Yadav, Ajay Mishra Teni to be sealed as UP votes on 13 seats

Lucknow: Polling for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh covering 13 parliamentary constituencies began at 7 am on Monday, with the focus on the prestigious Kannauj seat from where SP president Akhilesh Yadav is seeking re-election.

Another prominent candidate in the fray in this round is Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, who is contesting from Kheri.

Besides Kannauj and Kheri, voting will take place in Shahjahanpur (SC), Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich (SC).

A total of 130 candidates are in the poll fray in this phase.

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 (Swami Sachidanand Hari Sakshi) is pitted against SP's Annu Tandon (former Lok Sabha MP from Unnao).

Of the 13 constituencies, 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.

For 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 Teni (Kheri), Rekha Verma (Dhaurahra), Mukesh Rajput (Farrukhabad), and Devendra Singh alias 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 are eyeing a sixth term in the Lok Sabha polls.

Over 2.46 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their voting rights in the fourth phase of the polls in the state.

A bypoll will also be held to the Dadraul assembly constituency in Shahjahanpur district.

The assembly seat of Dadraul fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Manvendra Singh on January 5 after a prolonged illness. There are 10 candidates in the fray for the Dadraul assembly by-election.