Hyderabad: Counting of votes for 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly began this morning amidst tight security.

The fate of 1,896 candidates, including Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam), senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and Home Minister T Devender Goud (Medchal), several State Ministers, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president Chandrasekhar Rao (Siddipet) and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas (Nizamabad) would be decided today (May 11, 2004).

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Counting of votes began at 8 hrs (IST) and the results are expected to be out by this evening.

Early counting has been ordered in Andhra Pradesh, as the new Government should in place by May 13 when the six-month deadline of the caretaker TDP cabinet ends.

About 10,000 personnel have been drafted for counting of votes which is expected to be a quick affair with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) being deployed at all polling booths for the first time in the State.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth counting of votes at 115 designated centres spread 42 cities and towns.