The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission has moved polling for the state’s Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections from November 3 to November 5, with counting now scheduled for November 7.
The revised schedule was announced on October 28 after the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for local body elections and the counting of votes for urban local body elections was fixed for November 3. The change means the MPTC and ZPTC counting process will follow the urban local body results by four days.
According to the revised timetable, polling for both MPTC and ZPTC constituencies will take place on November 5. The State Election Commission will conduct counting on November 7. The earlier schedule had placed polling for these rural local bodies on November 3.
The decision was issued through an official notification signed by State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha. The notification covers the 2026 local body election programme for 100 urban local bodies, MPTCs, ZPTCs and gram panchayats across Andhra Pradesh.
The rescheduling reflects the administrative need to avoid overlap with the urban local body election count. The SEC had earlier decided to hold urban local body polling on November 1, with counting scheduled for November 3, under a revised election programme.
The commission also considered conditions created by Cyclone Arnab while reviewing the election schedule. It said the November 1 polling date for urban local bodies would remain unchanged after assessing the situation and taking assurances from Collectors and District Election Authorities in cyclone-affected districts.
The schedule places several layers of local government elections within the same election programme. Urban local bodies will vote before the MPTC and ZPTC elections, while gram panchayat elections are also included in the wider 2026 schedule. MPTCs and ZPTCs are rural local governance institutions operating at the mandal and district levels respectively.
The revised dates will require district election authorities to coordinate polling arrangements, counting centres and personnel deployment across the different local body contests. The SEC notification, as reported by Deccan Chronicle, does not indicate any change to the November 1 urban local body polling date or the November 3 counting date.
With the revised timetable, the next stated milestones are urban local body polling on November 1, urban local body vote counting on November 3, MPTC and ZPTC polling on November 5, and counting for those elections on November 7.
