Lucknow, Feb 11 (IANS): Taj city Agra led the voting percentage in the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh in the first four hours as 28 per cent of the electorate cast their votes, an official said on Saturday.

The communally polarised Muzaffarnagar also saw brisk voting earlier and by 11 a.m. the voting percentage hit 27. Firozabad, Mathura and Meerut were neck-to-neck at 21-22 per cent.

Noida, neighbouring New Delhi, where Pankaj Singh, son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is contesting the elections as a BJP candidate registered 18 per cent in four hours.

Voting is continuing in all the 73 seats amid tight security. There have been some reports of clashes and poll-related violence.

Bright sunshine helped voter turnout to improve at many places, especially in the minority dominated areas.

Long queues were seen in places like Mathura, Agra, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut (City), Sardhana, Shamli.

The largest constituency in this phase, as per population, is Sahibabad in Ghaziabad and the smallest is Jalesar in Etah.

There are 26,822 polling centres for over two crore voters in this phase of polling for 73 seats across 15 districts. Fate of 839 candidates will be sealed on Saturday.