Counting of votes for AP assembly begins

The counting of votes for the 294-member Andhra Pradesh assembly began on Tuesday morning amidst tight
security.

The fate of 1,896 candidates, including Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam), senior Telugu Desam Party leader and Home Minister T Devender Goud (Medchal), Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief Chandrasekhar Rao
(Siddipet) and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas (Nizamabad) would be decided in a few hours from now.

Counting of votes began at 0800 IST and the results are expected to be out by evening.

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