StatesAndhra Pradesh
Andhra parishad counting under way at 365 centres, no trends yet
Postal ballots are being counted first for 582 ZPTC and 7,767 MPTC seats, where 21,000 candidates are in the fray, and officials expect the first results later in the day.
Key points
- Counting began at 8 am at 365 centres across 28 districts, and no trends had been reported by 8:10 am.
- 2,169 ZPTC and 18,843 MPTC candidates are in the contest for the seats being counted.
- Another 2,128 seats were won unopposed, 77 ZPTC and 2,051 MPTC.
Counting of votes in Andhra Pradesh’s mandal and zilla parishad elections began at 8 am on Saturday, November 7, at 365 centres across 28 districts. By about 8:10 am no trends or seat tallies had been reported, as postal ballots are counted before the ballot boxes are opened.
The count covers 582 ZPTC and 7,767 MPTC seats, where polling took place on November 5 and, in a few cyclone-hit mandals, on November 6. In all, 2,169 candidates are contesting the ZPTC seats and 18,843 the MPTC seats, so each ballot box carries votes for a long list of names.
A further 77 ZPTC and 2,051 MPTC seats were won unopposed and need no counting. Turnout was 70.72%, against 60.91% in 2021.
What the count looks like
The State Election Commission has set up 9,062 counting tables, half for ZPTC votes and half for MPTC votes. Each table handles 1,000 ballot papers in a round. Close to 40,000 staff, including 11,002 supervisors and 28,692 assistants, are on duty, with 19,885 police personnel at the centres and around them.
Smaller districts have a lighter load. Alluri district, for example, is counting 11 ZPTC and 172 MPTC seats, with 72 and 648 candidates respectively.
Because the ballots are counted by hand and MPTC and ZPTC votes are kept apart, seat-by-seat results will come through the day and into the night. Officials have not fixed a single time for the first results: expectations range from around noon to the afternoon. The MPTC picture is expected by about 3 pm and the ZPTC picture by about 7 pm.
What happens next
Results will be posted on the commission’s website, sec.ap.gov.in. Once the seats are decided, the posts of mandal parishad presidents and zilla parishad chairpersons will be filled in elections scheduled for November 11 and 12.
This story will be updated with the first trends once the commission releases them.