AP MPTC, ZPTC polling moved to 5 November, counting to 7 November; parishad polls no longer clash with municipal counting

AP MPTC and ZPTC polling will now be held on 5 November instead of 3 November, the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission announced on Wednesday, 28 October. Counting of votes for the mandal and zilla parishad territorial constituencies moves from 5 November to 7 November.

The change follows the rescheduling of the urban local body elections. Polling for the municipalities was shifted earlier from 28 October to 1 November, and counting from 30 October to 3 November, following Supreme Court directions. That put municipal counting on the same day as parishad polling, and the commission decided to move the parishad dates to avoid difficulties in running both.

The new AP MPTC, ZPTC schedule

Voters can cast their ballots from 7 am to 5 pm on 5 November. Repolling, where needed, will be held on 6 November, and counting will begin at 8 am on 7 November, with results to follow the same day.

The earlier exception for remote areas stays. Under the commission’s notification of 20 October, voting will close at 3 pm in 88 polling stations: 44 in 10 mandals of Alluri Sitarama Raju district and 44 in seven mandals of Polavaram district. Repolling in those stations, if any, will also end at 3 pm.

State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha has asked district collectors and district election officers to publicise the revised schedule widely. More than 50,000 candidates are in the fray for the MPTC and ZPTC seats. Official notices are on the State Election Commission’s website.