Uttar Pradesh reported a tentative 63 per cent voter turn-out in the first of the seven phases of Assembly elections on Saturday. Close to 2.6 crore electors were eligible to cast their ballot for 73 of the 403 Assembly seats which went to polls mainly in the western part of the state. Counting for all the seats is scheduled to take place on March 11.

Briefing newspersons here after polling had ended senior officials of the Election Commission said that 42 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had to be replaced during the first phase of elections in the state. Cases of poll boycott were resolved in three areas including Kavinagar, Ghaziabad while it remained unresolved in Bhagat Nagariya in Mathura, officials said. Most of constituencies which went to the polls were in the communally sensitive areas of the state including Meerut, Mathura and Aligarh.

The authorities seized ₹ 9.54 crores in cash and liquor and drugs and narcotics worth ₹ 14 crores were also seized during the first phase of elections in the state. Besides, preventive action was taken against almost 300,000 persons, officials added.

During the first phase of elections the largest constituency in terms of electors was Sahibabad while Jalesar was the smallest. Prominent candidates during the first phase include the son of the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is contesting from Noida and the Congress Legislative Party leader Pradeep Mathur.

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