Hyderabad, Dec 11 ( LatestNewsX ) – The first phase of Telangana’s Gram Panchayat elections is still counting, but early tallies suggest that candidates received the backing of the ruling Congress party win the majority of seats.
Although the elections were conducted on a non‑party basis, the outcome indicates that most winners were supported by the Congress. “They reflect people’s confidence in the Congress government,” said Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Mahesh Kumar Goud after the results were released.
In total, Congress‑backed candidates secured 1,924 Sarpanch posts. The main opposition, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), came in second with 975 Sarpanch victories, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lagged behind with 156 posts. Candidates from other parties won in 428 Gram Panchayats.
The polling for 3,834 Sarpanch posts began at 7 a.m. and concluded at 1 p.m. Counting started at 2 p.m., with results for 3,478 Gram Panchayats announced by 10 p.m. According to the Station Election Commission, voter turnout was 84.28 %. Polling was conducted for 3,834 Sarpanch and 27,628 Ward Member positions.
The contest featured 12,960 candidates for Sarpanch seats and 65,455 for Ward Member posts. More than 5.6 million voters were eligible to cast ballots at 37,562 polling stations across 189 mandals. The election notification covered 4,326 Sarpanch and 37,440 Ward Member posts; however, no nominations were received for five Sarpanch and 169 Ward Member vacancies.
Unanimous elections were held for 396 Sarpanch seats and 9,633 Ward Member positions. A court stay affected one Gram Panchayat and ten Ward Member seats.
The electorate was 5,619,430—27,410,070 males and 28,781,590 females—yet 4,515,141 voters participated in the first phase, per SEC figures. More than 100,000 polling staff and over 50,000 police personnel were deployed. Direct webcasting was arranged for 3,461 Gram Panchayats to ensure real‑time monitoring.
The State Election Commission’s notification announced that the Panchayat elections will take place in three phases on December 11, 14, and 17, covering 12,728 Sarpanch and 112,242 Ward Member posts. In total, around 1.66 crore rural voters are eligible to vote.
Last month the Telangana Cabinet decided to conduct only Gram Panchayat elections in December, as the Rs 3,000 crore grant from the center will expire on March 31, 2026. Elections for Mandal Parishad, Zilla Parishad, and municipal corporations will await the High Court’s final rulings on a 42 % reservation for Backward Classes (BCs). In October, the High Court struck down a government order that set a 42 % BC reservation in local bodies but allowed elections to proceed with a 50 % cap on total reservation. The SEC has set a 17.08 % BC reservation for Gram Panchayats, reserving 2,176 out of 12,735 units for BCs.
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