Lucknow, Feb 11(UNI) Amid unprecedented security cover, polling for the first phase in 73 Assembly seats covering 15 districts of western Uttar Pradesh started at 0700 hrs this morning.
EC officials said that the polling commenced on a smooth note though in some places there were teething problems due to malfunctioning in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
However, long queues were witnessed in some polling booths of Ghaziabad, Noida, Meerut and Agra.
The first phase will be a litmus test for the BJP and the BSP as well as the SP-Congress alliance which would give an indication of the party emerging as topper in the state polls.
A record of 826 companies of Central Forces had been deployed for conducting free and fair polls.