Lucknow: The counting of votes began for 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh at 8 a.m. on Saturday amid tight security.
Chief Electoral Officer T. Venkatesh said postal ballots would be counted first and then the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be taken up.
A total of 4,853 candidates contested the staggered election.
The maximum number of 403 candidates were fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (384), Samajwadi Party (311) and the Congress (114). A total of 1,462 independents were in the fray.
–IANS