JOIN USAbout 10 percent voting was recorded in the first two hours of polling in 18 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats in the fourth phase of general elections on Thursday morning.
Polling began at 7 a.m. at each of the 29,312 polling stations across 20 districts of the state.
By 9 a.m., 11.5 percent voter turnout - the highest in the state - was recorded in Mathura. It was followed by Ghaziabad at nine percent.
The lowest turnout was recorded at 7.5 percent in Mainpuri and Etah.
Prominent among the 314 candidates in the fray are three former chief ministers - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh.
While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh is contesting the polls from Ghaziabad, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is fighting from Mainpuri and Kalyan Singh is contesting as an independent with SP support from Etah.
As many as 25.6 million voters have the right to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of the candidates.
In all, 29,649 electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being used for the polling Thursday.
While 48 seats have gone to the polls in the first three phase of polls, voting will be held in 14 in the last phase May 13.