By Brij Khandelwal

Agra, Feb 10 (IANS): Despite the biting cold and foggy weather, voters in the nine Assembly constituencies in Agra lined up early to cast their votes before "Jal Paan".

Men, women, all covered up in woollens and masked, reached early in the posh colonies, as well as in the rural segments to vote.

First time voters were keen to flaunt their inked fingers through selfies posted on social media.

Purushottam Khandelwal, the BJP candidate from Agra North told IANS: "The josh is high and people were keen to cast their votes."

He expected the voting percentage to go record high.

Only tea shops were open for the voters who discussed the probabilities of the election over a cup of tea after casting their ballots, said senior citizen Sudhir Gupta of Vijay Nagar colony .

As the day advanced, the mist has begun clearing up, inciting hopes of a good turnout.

Padmini, a homemaker, was all excited after pressing the EVM button. "I had delayed my journey to Bengaluru, just to exercise my right to vote," she said.

In the interior city, burqa-clad women were seen crowding the polling stations.

District authorities have deployed additional para-military forces in sensitive areas.

"So far the polling has been peaceful and orderly," a senior official said.

Poll pundits of Agra expect a contest between the state's ruling BJP which won all the nine seats in the district in 2017, and the Samajwadi Party-RLD alliance

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party, are being seen as vote splitters, to benefit one or the other.