Hyderabad, December 10: The fate of 1,821 candidates contesting the Telangana Assembly election will be decided Tuesday when the counting of votes will be taken up. The maiden polls for the 119-seat Telangana Assembly were held on December 7 with a voter turnout of 73.20 per cent. Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said necessary arrangements have been made for the counting day and the strongrooms, where EVMs are kept, secured with central paramilitary forces providing "first cordon of security."

One of the strongroom keys is kept with the external observer and as precaution, political parties are also keeping a watch, he said. The counting will begin at 8am. "EVMs will be brought out polling station-wise and kept at the counting centres which will have 14 tables (except in Medchal which will have 28). And counting will go on. This will be done after the completion of the full postal ballot count. Counting will be done in the respective constituencies," Kumar told PTI. Telangana Assembly Elections 2018 Exit Poll Results News Updates: TRS Set To Retain Power, KCR to be Back as CM.

"The winning candidate will be declared and certificate will be prepared after obtaining clearance from the Election Commission. With the approval of the ECI, the Chief Electoral Officer, will submit the list of winning candidates party-wise to the Governor," he added. Though some exit polls indicate a clear edge to K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the "Praja Kutami" alliance of Congress, Telugu Desam Party, CPI and Kodandaram-led Telangana Jana Samithi, appears confident of forming the government in the country's youngest state, separated from Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.

"We will win 100 seats," Rao said repeatedly in campaign meetings. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said the alliance led by his party is confident of winning the election "hands-down" and claimed Rao was showing "signs of nervousness and insecurity" in meetings he addressed as the campaign winded down.

Predicting a fractured poll mandate in Telangana, the BJP claimed on Sunday it would play a "vital role" in the formation of the government in the southern state. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Friday exuded confidence that his party would be successful in the Telangana assembly election. The party has fielded candidates in eight assembly segments in Hyderabad and is supporting TRS in other segments.