Lucknow, Dec 21 (IANS): Around 20.4 per cent polling has been reported in the Sikandara Assembly by-poll till 1 p.m. on Thursday, officials said.

Voting started on a slow note, largely because of the fog and inclement weather and only six per cent polling was recorded in the first three hours.

The by-poll has been necessitated following the death of BJP legislator Mathura Prasad Pal. There are 11 candidates in all and the ruling BJP has fielded Ajeet Pal Singh, son of its late lawmaker.

Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Seema Sachan while the Congress had made Prabhakar its candidate for the by-polls.

There are 288 polling centres for the elections and around 3.2 lakh voters are expected to cast their votes in the 391 polling booths.

Police and district authorities have marked 58 polling stations as sensitive. Election Commission officials told IANS that webcasting is being done at 41 polling stations. CCTV cameras have also been installed at 40 sensitive booths.