Lucknow, Jan 17 (IANS): The notification for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections was issued on Tuesday.

Seventy-three assembly constituencies spread across 15 districts of western Uttar Pradesh would be going to polls in the first phase of the crucial elections, which will be held on February 11.

Western Uttar Pradesh has been witness to a major riot in Muzaffarnagar and many a communal tensions in the past five years of the Samajwadi Party (SP) rule, making it politically the most interesting round of polls even as the security agencies are keeping a tight watch, for fear of communal polarisation and unrest. 

The districts going to polls in the first phase are Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras, Agra, Firozabad, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Etah and Kasganj. 

Vote Verified Paper Audit Trail machines would be used in Agra (Agra Cantt and Agra South), Aligarh (Aligarh), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), and Meerut (Meerut), a poll panel official told IANS.

With the notification, the poll process of filing nominations and campaigning has also begun.

The last date to file nominations is January 24 while scrutiny of nomination papers would be held on January 25.

Candidates in fray can withdraw their nominations by January 27. 

Voting would be held on February 11 while counting of votes would be done on March 11, along with that of rest of the seats that goes to polls later, in the six phases.