Lucknow, April 30 (IANS): As temperatures soared to above 40 degrees Celsius in Uttar Pradesh, voters turned up early at polling stations to beat the heat Wednesday for simultaneous balloting in 14 parliamentary and two assembly constituencies.
Voting was brisk here in the first two hours and serpentine queues were witnessed at polling stations. Senior citizens, women, some accompanied by their children, were excited to vote.
Officials said 9.09 percent of the electorate voted in the first two hours in Lucknow.
The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at two polling booths developed some snag, disrupting balloting in Sitapur. Officials said the problem was being attended to.
Prominent among the parliamentary constituencies where polling is on are Rae Bareli, Lucknow, Kanpur and Jhansi.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli which recorded 14 percent polling in the first two hours.
Bharatiya Janata Party's national president Rajnath Singh is contesting against Samajwadi Party's Abhishek Mishra, Bahujan Samaj Party's Nakul Dubey, senior Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Aam Aadmi Party's Jaaved Jaaferi in Lucknow.
Among the early voters in Lucknow were Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi, BSP supremo Mayawati and Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
In Dhaurahra, where union minister Jatin Prasad is contesting, 14.36 percent of the electorate voted in the first two hours, while in Jhansi from where the BJP's firebrand Uma Bharti is fighting it out against the Congress' Pradip Jain Aditya, 14 percent polling was logged.
In Barabanki, the first two hours saw 15 percent voting, while 13 percent of the voters cast their ballot in Fatehpur.