Hyderabad, May 11: While rest of the country will have to wait till May 13 for Lok Sabha results, counting for 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly has begun and the results are expected to be out by evening.
Early counting has been ordered in Andhra Pradesh as the new government should be in place by May 13 when the six-month deadline for the caretaker TDP government ends.
The state assembly was dissolved on November 14 last year following the TDP government`s decision to go for polls, apparently to capitalize on perceived public sympathy in the wake of an abortive assassination bid on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by naxalites in October last year. About 10,000 personnel have been drafted for counting of votes, which is expected to be a quick affair with electronic voting machines (EVMs) being deployed at all polling booths for the first time in the state.
Over 3.57 crore voters, had exercised their franchise in the two-phase polling held on April 20 and 26, to decide the fate of 1,896 candidates for 294 assembly seats.
Elaborate security arrangement have been made to ensure smooth counting of votes that will be taken up at 115 designated counting centres spread over 42 cities and towns.
Significance of early results:

With the results of Andhra Pradesh assembly polls being declared two days earlier than the rest of the country, the performance of TDP, a key ally of the BJP-led NDA seeking an electoral hat-trick, will be keenly watched as it will serve as a barometer to assess how NDA fared at the hustings.
Naidu, considered as the southern mascot of NDA, has once again emerged as a cynosure of all eyes as the poll performance of TDP, which fought elections in alliance with BJP, is set to have a bearing on NDA in view of the anti-incumbency facing both of them.
Andhra’s fate- The result that could be:

To Congress’ dismay the Exit Polls have failed to predict a complete rout for the TDP. Most psephlogists see a hung assembly with neither of the two coalitions touching the magic figure of 148. In that case both parties will desperately try to add up allies and muster support to grab power.
Naidu, if the word doing rounds is to be believed, might resort to horse trading to get the numbers if the margin is narrow. A coup in the TRS a la a plot that overthrew NTR in 1995 is being sighted as a possibility, which could see the party expelling president K Chandrasekhra Rao and merging with the TDP.
There is also a possibility that independent legislators being elected to the assembly due to strong rebel factor in both alliances could, along with the MIM, play a crucial role in the formation of any government.
The leadership issue:
The results would be logically followed by a tug of war to form the government. The race for the post of Chief Minister should only be seen as a corollary to such a tussle. If its TDP-BJP then it’s the Cyberman who will retain the crown once again.
But the Congress camp, in the state at least, is betraying signals of disagreement over the leadership issue. Though party high command is likely to back Y S Rajashekhar Reddy but there are more than half a dozen aspirants for the top job, with state Congress unit chief D Srinivas being a more serious opponent for YSR to beat. Issues that dominated the polls:
Andhra witnessed a tough issue based contest with two major issues, Telangana, and Naxalism being the major focus of the electoral battle.
Naidu and his party asked people for a clear mandate to wage a decisive war against Naxalism, which it believed was hampering the state’s development.
The other major theme that is bound to have a bearing on today’s results is the Telangana issue. Congress went into the elections with its partner TRS on the plank of taking into consideration the demands of people of Telangna region. TRS and TDP were more clear about their stand on a separate state for Telangana. The TDP called for United Andhra invoking the memory of Potti Sriramulu, the father of modern day Andhra Pradesh, and the TRS went for the hustings demanding a separate state.
The election results are also being closely watched for knowing the verdict of the people of Andhra over both controversial issues of Naxalism and Telangana. Besides these two issues, problems faced by farmers were also believed to be on top of voters’ agenda while exercising their franchise
The Election Commission is expected to notify the names of the elected candidates by a gazette on May 12 or 13 to the Legislature Secretary after the final list in form 21-E was made available by today evening. This would ensure constitution of the new assembly before the expiry of the six-month constitutional deadline.
Bureau Report