Bhubaneswar, May 16 (Inditop) The counting of votes cast for elections to the 147 assembly constituencies and 21 Lok Sabha seats in Orissa began Saturday morning, a poll official said.
The vote count began at 8 a.m. in 60 centres across the state amid tight security.
The official said special security arrangements have been made in the Maoist insurgency-affected Malkangiri district and communally sensitive Kandhamal district.
Elections for both the Lok Sabha and state assembly were held simulatneously in two phases April 16 and April 23.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) head and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and several of his ministers are testing their luck in the assembly elections.
The prominent candidates for the Lok Sabha polls include former union minister Jual Oram of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and former chief ministers Giridhar Gomang and Hemananda Biswal from the Congress.
