AP municipal polls on 28 October: 13 corporations and 87 towns vote after a violent nomination week

Voters in 100 towns and cities across Andhra Pradesh choose new councils on 28 October, in the first urban local body elections since the TDP-led alliance took office in June 2024. The State Election Commission, headed by State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha, has notified polls in 13 municipal corporations and 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats, out of the state’s 123 urban local bodies.

Polling runs from 7 am to 5 pm. If a repoll is needed anywhere, it will be held on 29 October, and votes will be counted from 8 am on 30 October. Nominations were accepted from 16 to 18 October, scrutiny took place on 19 October, and candidates had until 3 pm on 21 October to withdraw.

Which cities are voting

The 13 corporations in the race are Greater Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Vizianagaram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Guntur, Ongole, Nellore, Tirupati, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur. Together with the municipalities and nagar panchayats, the polls cover 3,942 wards and divisions.

Four corporations are not voting this time: Srikakulam, Rajamahendravaram, Kakinada and Mangalagiri-Tadepalli. They are among 23 urban bodies where pre-election work is not complete or cases are pending in the High Court, and their elections will be scheduled separately.

How the alliance has divided the posts

The three ruling partners settled their seat-sharing before nominations opened. Across all 123 urban bodies, the Telugu Desam Party will contest 11 mayor posts, the Jana Sena Party four and the BJP two. Jana Sena has the mayor posts in Srikakulam, Kakinada, Eluru and Vijayawada, and the BJP in Rajamahendravaram and Anantapur. For municipal chairperson posts, the TDP takes 78, Jana Sena 21 and the BJP seven.

A violent nomination week

Nominations opened on 16 October amid clashes between supporters of the YSR Congress Party and the TDP. In Rayachoti, in Annamayya district, groups clashed after rival press conferences, and police said both sides used sticks and stones; several vehicles were set on fire and others damaged. In Punganur, the YSRCP said TDP workers attacked the convoy of its MP P.V. Midhun Reddy; TDP leaders accused the convoy of intimidating their workers, and people on both sides as well as police personnel were injured. Annamayya Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Kanumilli said action would be taken against those who had broken the law in Punganur, and that the MP’s convoy had driven through police barricades.

In Mydukur, in YSR Kadapa district, nomination papers filed by several candidates were torn. After a report from the Kadapa district Collector, the State Election Commission stopped the Mydukur municipal election until further orders. A fresh notification will be issued; no new date had been announced by 20 October.

The opposition’s stand

The YSRCP, which governed the state until 2024, is contesting the elections and has not called a boycott. It filed no nominations in Punganur, alleging violence and intimidation. The party has challenged in the Supreme Court the High Court’s 18 October refusal to extend the nomination deadline, alleging that violence kept its candidates from filing; it also seeks a stay on declaring candidates elected unopposed in the affected wards. The court listed the petition for hearing on 21 October.

The number of wards and posts that will be decided without a contest becomes final once the State Election Commission publishes the list of candidates left in the fray after withdrawals.

What happened last time

The previous urban local body elections were held in March 2021, when the YSRCP was in power. It won all 11 corporations whose results were declared that month (counting in Eluru was held back by a High Court order) and all but a handful of the 75 municipalities and nagar panchayats; Tadipatri, in Anantapur district, was the best-known exception, going to the TDP.

What comes next

The urban polls are the first of three rounds. Nominations for mandal parishad (MPTC) and zilla parishad (ZPTC) seats run from 21 to 23 October, with scrutiny on 24 October and withdrawals until 27 October. Polling is on 3 November, with any repoll on 4 November and counting on 5 November. Gram panchayat elections follow in three phases, with polling on 26 November, 29 November and 2 December and counting on the same day as each phase.