Glimpses of the first phase of polling in UP

Around 64.22% of voters exercised their franchise in 73 assembly constituencies in the first of the seven-phased UP polls, the Election Commission said. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

The trend of urban voters keeping away from booths but rural seats witnessing higher turnouts has repeated itself in NCR this time too. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

The polling was marginally better than the 61% registered in the first phase of the 2012 assembly polls. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

Voters in rural areas of Sahibabad assembly constituency displayed a tilt towards the SP-Congress alliance which has fielded Amarpal Sharma, the sitting MLA. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

The largest urban centre — Noida assembly constituency—recorded the lowest turnout of 49.02% on Saturday. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

The second urban centre in the region, Sahibabad in Ghaziabad, too recorded a low turnout of 50.1%. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad recorded an average turnout of 58.67%. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

In Noida, Greater Noida and Dadri, young voters primarily cast their vote for 'development.' (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

For some voters, women's safety and a corruption-free society were on the top of their priority list. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

While Noida had the lowest turnout of 49.02% in NCR, the highest turnout of 66.43% was in Jewar, both in Gautam Budh Nagar. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

EC said 3,888 digital and video cameras were used and webcasting was done in 2,857 places for the first phase of polling. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

A total of 2.60 crore voters, including over 1.17 crore women and 1,508 belonging to the third gender, were eligible to cast their ballot to decide the fate of 839 candidates. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

The first phase of polling will decide the electoral fortunes of Pankaj Singh from Noida; Congress Legislature Party member Pradeep Mathur in Mathura, where BJP spokesman Shrikant Sharma is also in the fray; Mariganka Singh in Kairana, and controversial BJP MLA Sangeet Som from Sardhana. (TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)