The counting of votes will commence at 8 am and the results of the 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly are expected to be out by tomorrow evening.
Early counting has been ordered for the state as the new government should be in place by May 13 when the six-month deadline of the caretaker TDP government ends.
The state Assembly was dissolved on November 14 last year following TDP government's decision to go for early polls, apparently to capitalise 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, who had exercised their franchise in the two-phase polling held on April 20 and 26, will decide the fate of 1,896 candidates for 294 Assembly seats.
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 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 common factor of anti-incumbency facing both of them.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth counting of votes which will be taken up at 115 designated counting centres spread over 42 cities and towns. In all, 1,896 candidates were in the fray for Assembly polls.
