Chennai | Amid a comprehensive three-tier security, counting of votes commenced at 8 AM on Monday in all the 62 designated counting centres in the state, officials said.

The vote-counting exercise commenced at 8 AM with the postal ballots and at 8.30 AM, counting of votes recorded in EVMs will be taken up, they said.

Elections to 234 Assembly segments were held in the state on April 23.

The incumbent DMK regime has fought hard to retain power, and its archrival AIADMK has slogged to win power after five years as the principal opposition party.

Actor-politician Vijay-led TVK's entry into the electoral arena has made predictions about the winning prospects tough, and the Tamil nationalist Seeman's NTK is another factor in the polls.