Hyderabad: The Panchayat Raj department has finalised the list of 566 ZPTC and MPP seats where elections will be held across Telangana. The department is completing procedural work required for conducting elections and implementing reservations, including finalising the number of MPTC seats.
Officials indicated that the total number of MPTC positions, previously 5,817, will decrease. The reduction follows administrative changes including creation of new municipalities, merger of villages into corporations, and reclassification of Medchal district as entirely urban. All mandals within the Outer Ring Road have been notified as municipalities.
In 2019, elections were conducted for 32 Zilla Parishad chairpersons and 539 ZPTC and MPP seats. This time, polls will be held for 31 Zilla Parishad chairpersons and 566 ZPTC and MPP seats.
Nalgonda has the highest number of ZPTC seats at 33, followed by Nizamabad with 31. Sangareddy and Siddipet have 26 each, and Kamareddy has 25. Mulugu district, represented by Panchayat Raj Minister Seethakka, has the lowest with 10 seats, followed by Warangal with 11. Ten districts have between 12 and 15 seats.
ZPTC members will elect the 31 Zilla Parishad chairpersons. In several districts, between 12 and 15 ZPTC members will vote, meaning a party winning six or seven seats could claim the chair.
Officials said the number of reserved seats for SCs and STs is limited. In cases where candidates from those communities are present in both major parties, the outcome may depend on internal party strength. In a single-party scenario, even a minority in ZPTC seats may secure the chairmanship due to reservation constraints, making these elections closely watched.
