Counting of votes in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura began on Saturday morning amidst tight security.

The electoral fate of over 1,200 candidates, including chief ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh), S C Jamir (Nagaland), Flinder Anderson Khonglam (Meghalaya) and, Manik Sarkar (Tripura) will be decided.

Polling was held on February 26 in 65 constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and 60 each in the northeastern states.

Due to inclement weather polling in snowbound constituencies of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinaur and Pangi Bharmaur in Himachal Pradesh was deferred to June 8.

In Nagaland, counting of votes will be held for 57 seats as repolling in five booths in Kiphire constituency, three in Longleng and two in Thonoknyu, which was to be held on Friday, could not take place due to delay in communication. Repolling in these booths will be held on Saturday and March 3.

Counting of votes also began for by-elections in seven assembly constituencies -- two in Uttar Pradesh (Gauriganj and Haidergarh) and one each in Jammu and Kashmir (Pampore), Tamil Nadu (Sattankulam), Karnataka (Humnabad), Maharashtra (Bhokarden) and Assam (Ratabari).

The bypoll for Poreyahat constituency in Jharkhand, which was scheduled for February 26, was deferred to March 24.