StatesAndhra Pradesh
Andhra's cyclone-hit mandals vote as repolls open at seven booths; Thursday turnout put at 67.24%
Polling for 5 ZPTC and 60 MPTC seats in five mandals of Eluru and East Godavari began at 7 am on Friday, with fresh voting at seven booths in five districts. The State Election Commission says 1.5 crore people voted on Thursday.
Key points
- Voting for 5 ZPTC and 60 MPTC seats in five cyclone-hit mandals began at 7 am on Friday.
- The State Election Commission ordered repolls at seven polling stations in five districts after rigging, attacks and a ballot box seizure.
- Thursday's statewide turnout was 67.24%, or 1.5 crore voters, with counting on November 7.
Voters in five mandals of Andhra Pradesh that Cyclone Murasu cut off earlier this week began casting their ballots at 7 am on Friday, November 6, 2026, as the State Election Commission also reopened voting at seven polling stations where Thursday’s poll was spoiled by rigging, violence or a seized ballot box.
Friday’s polling covers 5 ZPTC and 60 MPTC seats in Gopalapuram in East Godavari district and in Velerupadu, Buttayagudem, Jeelugumilli and Polavaram in the Eluru area. Voting runs until 5 pm. Gopalapuram alone has 18 MPTC seats spread over 64 polling stations, and Buttayagudem has 15.
The four Eluru-area mandals have 140 polling stations between them. Floods from the cyclone overflowed local reservoirs and cut several roads there, and Eluru Collector K Vetriselvi said on Thursday night that staff and ballot boxes had reached every station before the vote.
Seven booths vote again
The commission ordered the repolls after polling was cancelled at booths in five districts. In Anantapur, voting is being held again at polling station 8 in Marutla in Kudair mandal, where ballot papers were torn during Thursday’s clashes, and at stations 46 and 47 in Chitrachedu in Peddavadugur mandal.
The other repolls are at station 2 in Arlabanda in Kosigi mandal of Kurnool, a ZPTC booth where the commission acted after an inquiry into rigging complaints, and at station 2 in Ponnam in Srikakulam mandal, where ink stains were found on ballot papers. Fresh voting is also under way at station 5 in Gangavaram in Pullalacheruvu mandal of Markapuram district, where a ballot box was seized, and at station 43 in Andukuru in Krosuru mandal of Palnadu.
Thursday’s turnout
The State Election Commission has put the statewide turnout for Thursday’s MPTC and ZPTC polls at 67.24%, with 1,50,84,014 of 2,24,32,460 voters casting ballots for 7,767 MPTC and 582 ZPTC seats. Sri Sathya Sai district recorded the highest turnout at 82.60%, and Alluri Sitarama Raju the lowest at 59%.
Voting was slow in the morning, with 11.71% polled in the first two hours and 30.50% by 1 pm, before a late rush in the afternoon. The commission said the final figure may still rise, because voters who were inside polling stations at 5 pm were allowed to vote, and Friday’s polling will add to the count.
Thursday’s poll passed off largely peacefully, but clashes in Anantapur and Palnadu and disputes over ballot boxes in Guntur kept the police busy into the night.
What happens next
Votes from all of Andhra Pradesh, including Friday’s, will be counted on November 7. Elections for mandal parishad presidents and zilla parishad chairpersons follow on November 11 and 12, after which the state is due to hold gram panchayat elections.