Vijayawada, Nov. 7 -- The counting of votes for the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) rural local body elections commenced peacefully across NTR district on Saturday morning.

The counting centres have been set up at nine places across the district for 16 ZPTC and 276 MPTC seats, with all necessary basic facilities provided.

For smooth conduct of the counting process, 18 counting halls and 281 counting tables have been arranged. Around 1,500 counting supervisors, counting assistants and other supporting staff have been deployed.

Three-tier heavy police security under the supervision of 7 DSPs, 37 CIs and 64 SIs has been arranged and deployed at the counting centres.

At th...