Hyderabad, June 4 : The BJP has taken an early lead in seven out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana while the ruling Congress party was ahead in four constituencies.

The AIMIM was maintaining a lead in Hyderabad constituency.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which lost power in Assembly elections recently, was not leading in any of the constituencies.

Karimnagar, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Warangal are among the constituencies where the BJP had taken an early lead.

The Congress was ahead in Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahbubabad and Nalgonda constituencies.

Union Minister and state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy was ahead in BJP General Secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar took an early lead in Karimnagar constituency.

In Malkajgiri, which is India's largest constituency, BJP's Eatala Rajender was leading in the initial round.

In Khammam, Congress party's Raghurami Reddy was leading by 19,935 votes in the first round.

In Mahabubabad, Congress candidate Balram Naik had taken an early lead.

Counting of votes was taken up at all 34 counting centres amid tight security on Tuesday.

Counting of votes for Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency, where bye-election was held along with Lok Sabha polls, was also taken up simultaneously.

Over 10,000 staff will be posted on counting duties while an additional 20 per cent workforce is on standby.

A total of 49 central observers and 2,414 micro-observers will monitor the counting process.

/IANS