Chennai, May 23 (PTI) Counting of votes for 38 Parliamentary segments and bypolls to 22 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu began amid tight security Thursday.

Trends are expected to emerge after about an hour.

The bypolls and Parliamentary elections are crucial for both the ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK with the former looking to retain power in Tamil Nadu and the latter eyeing a comeback after consecutive poll setbacks.

Counting of votes is underway in 45 centres across the state, with over 17,000 polling staff and 45,000 police personnel on duty.

As many as 1,520 personnel from the Central Armed Paramalitary Forces and over 38,000 from state police have been deployed on duty.

A total of 88 counting observers are tasked to oversee the counting process.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)