LS polls counting LIVE: Congress decimated, bites the dust in UP as BJP bags 73 out of 80 seats

Tight security arrangements will be in place for counting of votes at 76 counting centres in Uttar Pradesh on Friday where 1,288 candidates, including Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi, have contested for the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

"For counting in 80 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 75 districts, total 76 counting centres have been made of which two are in Amethi," state Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told reporters.

He said that out of 80 constituencies, counting of 37 constituencies will be held in two districts while counting of three constituencies will be done in three districts and counting of rest of the constituencies will be held in one district.

Sinha said that 112 observers have been appointed to keep an eye on counting process while 10 special poll observers have been appointed for Jhansi, Kheri, Kairana, Bijnor, Farukhabad, Azamgarh, Kannauj, Firozabad and Fatehpur Sikri constituencies.

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Tight security will be in place for counting and entry of vehicles have been banned inside 100 meter area of the counting centres, he said.

Media centres have been set up at all the counting centres. In the high-profile Amethi seat, counting will be held at two centres - Manishi Girls degree college and Indira Gandhi PG college, officials said.

Prominent candidates of different parties whose fate will be decided in the counting on Friday, included Narendra Modi (Varanasi), Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), Mulayam Singh Yadav (Azamgarh and Mainpuri), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow) and Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur).

Besides them performance of former Chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal (Varanasi) and Uma Bharti (Jhansi), BJP leaders Maneka gandhi (Pilibhit) and her son Varun Gandhi (Sultanpur), Union Minister Salman Khurshid (Farukhabad), Beni Prasad verma (Gonda), Pradeep Jain Aditya (Jhansi), Ajit Singh (Baghpat), RPN Singh (Kushinagar) and Sriprakash Jaiswal (Kanpur) in elections would also be keenly watched by obsevers.

(With agency inputs)