Chennai, May 23: The counting of votes for 22 assembly seats of Tamil Nadu has begun at 8 am today. The results will be announced by the evening of May 23. The ruling AIADMK is leading on seven seats, while, the DMK is ahead on 10 seats. Bypolls in Tamil Nadu took place in two phases. On April 18, the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019, 18 seats of state assembly seats -Poonamallee, Perambur, Thiruporur, Sholingur, Gudiyatham (SC), Ambur, Hosur, Pappireddipatti, Harur (SC), Nilakottai (SC), Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Manamadurai (SC), Andipatti, Periyakulam (SC), Sattur, Paramakudi (SC) and Vilathikulam. went to polls along with 38 parliamentary constituencies, while the polling on the remaining four assembly seats - Sulur, Ottapidaram, Thirupparankundram and Aravakurichi took place on May 19. Catch complete coverage of Lok Sabha Elections 2019 here.

However, the voting in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency was postponed as a huge amount of cash was seized allegedly from DMK leaders. The 22 seats fell vacant after the disqualification of 18 pro-Dhinakaran MLAs, death of Karunanidhi and two AIADMK MLAs, and the disqualification of an AIADMK minister by the High Court, following his conviction in a rioting case. Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Dates: Constituency-Wise Complete Schedule Of Voting And Results For General Elections.

Currently, there are 213 MLA in 235-member Tamil Nadu assembly. The ruling AIADMK has a strength of 113 minus the Speaker in the House, while, The principal opposition DMK, along with its allies, including Congress, has 97 MLAs. Now the AiADMK needs five seats in the to reach the majority figure of 118 seats.

However, exit polls predicted that the AIADMK is likely to get only three seats which will take its tally to 116, two short of a majority.  The DMK is expected to get 14 seats, while five seats may witness a tough fight, reported India Today-Axis. In 2016, the ruling party had won 21 of these 22 seats. Meanwhile, various exit poll surveys predicted that the DMK Alliance would get a majority in the Lok Sabha elections out of the total 39 seats in the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2019 08:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).