Hyderabad, Dec 3 (IANS): Counting of votes polled in the November 30 Telangana Assembly elections began on Sunday morning amid tight security.

Officials said postal ballots were first taken up for counting at 8 a.m. in all the 119 Assembly constituencies.

Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj said that the counting began at 8 a.m. at 49 counting centres for all 119 Assembly constituencies.

The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be opened half-an-hour later and even if the postal ballot counting is not completed, parallel counting will be undertaken.

Police have imposed prohibitory order around the centres and stepped-up security to maintain law and order.

The election authorities have set up 1,798 tables and there will be a total of 2,417 rounds of counting.

According to the Election Commission, 71.34 per cent polling was recorded in the elections held on November 30.

This is about 2 per cent lower than the turnout in 2018 elections.

Out of a total 3,26,02,793 voters, 2,32,59,256 cast their ballots.

In the 2018 elections, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had bagged 88 seats, while Congress had won 19 seats.