Counting of votes for the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat for which elections were held in two phases on December 11 and 16, began on Sunday morning.

Around 60 per cent overall voter turnout was recorded in one of the most bitterly fought elections by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress, the two main political parties in the state.

The Election Commission has set up 37 counting stations throughout the state.

"About, 8,000 personnel will be involved in the process. The staff will be assigned their respective tables before commencement of the counting," state electoral officer A H Manek said.

"Every table will have a central government officer as an observer. After the completion of each round of counting, the observers will randomly select two EVMs and recheck the votes polled for the parties," Manek said.

The EC has developed a special software which will help the data to be fed from the counting centres to the official website of the EC, Manek said.

The EC had worked with this system in Uttar Pradesh elections also, Manek added.