States await verdict, counting of votes today

New Delhi: The counting of votes polled in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh a week ago began at 0800 hours IST on Thursday.

The results are expected to be announced by midday.

"The counting will start at 8 am," said Spokesperson of the Election Commission Rajesh Malhotra, adding that arrangements had been made to disperse information through its website.

While Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are pitted against the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, in Haryana and Arunchal Pradesh, the Congress party is widely seen as a front-runner.

In Maharashtra, around 60 per cent of the 7.60 crore electorate in the state exercised their franchise on October 13. There was re-polling in 22 polling centres, mostly after Maoist guerrillas tried to disrupt voting.

Some 40,000 police personnel provided security for the vote count at 36 centres in Mumbai.

The fate of 3,559 contestants will be known on Thursday, who contested from the 288 constituencies in the state.

In Haryana, the Congress leaders are hopeful that the lack of unity among Opposition parties will be to its advantage and they will return to power for a second term.

Congress's Bhupinder Singh Hooda is expected to retain power in the state. If he does, he will become the first person in 30 years to retain a government after a full term in Haryana.

In the last Assembly polls in 2005, the Congress won 67 out of the 90 seats.

Besides Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the other main players in Haryana are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). All of them contested the elections on their own.

As many as 1,222 contestants, including 68 women contested the elections in 90 constituencies in the state. Around 72 per cent of Haryana's 13 million voters exercised their franchise.

In Arunchal Pradesh, of the 7,50,000 voters, an estimated 72 per cent voted to pick a new 60-member Assembly. Balloting took place for 57 seats because three candidates were declared elected unopposed.

A total of 154 candidates were in the fray with the Congress fielding contestants in all 60 seats.