Counting of votes for the Malvan assembly and Mumbai North-West Parliamentary by-elections in Maharashtra began on Tuesday morning amid tight security.

State Revenue Minister Narayan Rane of the Congress is pitted against Parshuram Uparkar of Shiv Sena in a straight contest in Malvan in Konkan region.

In Mumbai North-West, late Sunil Dutt's daughter and Congress candidate Priya Dutt is making her electoral debut and taking on Sena veteran Madhukar Sarpotdar, a two-time MP.

The by-elections were necessitated in Mumbai North-West because of the death of sitting MP Sunil Dutt, while in Malvan Rane's resignation from the assembly and switch over to the Congress necessitated the by-poll.

In the November 19 polling, Malvan had recorded a high 70.93 per cent turnout, while in Mumbai North-West, a urban constituency, the voting was low at 32.84 per cent.

All the 1486 Electronic Voting Machines from Mumbai North-West were brought to the Bombay Exhibition Ground at the NSE complex in suburban Goregaon for counting, while in Malvan, votes in 158 machines will be counted.