Uttar Pradesh civic elections, first phase polling: As it happened

LUCKNOW: The polling for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh civic body elections kick-started on Wednesday. The polling for the Uttar Pradesh civic polls began at 7:30 am amid tight security. Earlier, it was said the voting would be held from 7 am to 5 pm.

Latest updates:

-Over 42% polling registered in first phase of civic elections in UP.  

- Voting has again started in three booths of Mani Ram Bagia Ward number 104 after technical glitches in three EVMs.

- Technical glitch reported in EVMs of three booths in Mani Ram Bagia Ward number 104.

-  The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister says after coming to power they will try to ensure that the schemes of government for the welfare of the people reaches them.

- Adityanath casts his vote at a polling station in Gorakhpur.

- Visuals from a polling station in Ghazipur district's Saidpur

Voting underway for the first phase of local body election in #UttarPradesh: Visuals from a polling station in Ghazipur district's Saidpur, ward no. 13 pic.twitter.com/LGl7RVaRPy

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 22, 2017

- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrives at a polling station in Gorakhpur to cast his vote.

Polling will be held in 24 districts, including for mayoral posts.

The districts going to polls in the first phase are Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Bijnore, Badaun, Hathras, Kasganj, Agra, Kanpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Amethi, Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Sonebhadra.

1.09 crore voters would elect 4,325 candidates for various positions in the local bodies polls. The mayors of five corporations including Agra would also be elected.

The Agra mayor seat is being hotly contested by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Navin Jain, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Digambar Singh Dhakrey, Rahul Chaturvedi of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Vinod Bansal of the Congress. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Rajesh Gupta. The votes are likely to be divided among 13 mayoral candidates.

The remaining phases would be held on November 26 and 29, and the counting of votes for all the phases would be held on December 1. Results would be declared on the same day.