Lucknow, Jan 12 (IANS) Filing of nominations for the forthcoming state assembly elections began in Uttar Pradesh Thursday with two independents coming forward to submit their papers in Barabanki and Siddharthanagar districts.

They were part of the 10 districts comprising as many as 55 assembly constituencies which will go to polls in the first round of the five-phased election on Feb 8.

While Mukesh Singh was the first to file his nomination papers from Barabanki district, he was followed by Siraj Malik who submitted his nomination papers for the Shohratgarh constituency before the returning officer of Siddharthanagar district.

“Filing of nominations in these constituencies were thrown open today and will continue until Jan 19,” chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha told reporters. “Scrutiny of the documents will commence on Jan 20 while Jan 23 will remain the last date for withdrawal for these areas, where polling would be held on Feb 8,” he added.

As many as 17,044,561 voters were listed to cast their vote at 17,621 polling centres across the ten districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, where 19,383 electronic voting machines were to be installed for the polling day.