Lucknow: An estimated 9.59 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 13 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections Monday. Seats where polling is underway are Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi and Hamirpur.

Polling in this phase is specially important for the ruling BJP as it is aiming for a clean sweep by winning all 13 seats, including Kannauj which was the only seat the Samajwadi Party had managed to win in 2014. Kannauj was won by Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav. On four of these seats - Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Mishrikh and Etawah- the BJP opted for new faces while former Union ministers Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur) and Uma Bharti (Jhansi) are also not in the fray this time. The SP-BSP alliance has fielded six BSP candidates and seven SP candidates. While the BSP is contesting from Shahjahanpur (SC), Misrikh (SC), Farrukhabad, Akbarpur, Jalaun (SC) and Hamirpur.