Maha-results: Counting of votes begins

The much-awaited counting of votes started simultaneously on Thursday morning for all the 288 Maharashtra Assembly constituencies which voted on October 21, officials said here.

The first of the trends from many constituencies are likely to be available after an hour or so, said an election official.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena and the Opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party are the main parties in the fray, besides Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, the Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.

Tight security, with over 2,00,000 police personnel has been deployed as more than 25,000 election officials started the counting of votes all across the state.