Andhra Pradesh local body election reforms

The Andhra Pradesh government has initiated administrative and electoral reforms ahead of upcoming local body elections. Initially, the state Cabinet approved new reservation quotas for Backward Classes (BCs), setting them at 34% for Rural Local Bodies and 33.33% for Urban Local Bodies, while maintaining existing Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reservations.

The government also moved to increase the number of Zilla Parishads from 13 to 28 to reflect recent district reorganizations. To secure Central Finance Commission funds, officials aimed to hold elections by October.

Following these approvals, the state issued statutory rules to implement a shift from indirect to direct elections for mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and nagar panchayats. Under this new framework, voters will separately elect ward members and the presiding official for a five-year term. The reforms also included reducing the number of deputy mayors and vice-chairpersons from two to one. The government established a period in September to identify voters for reservation purposes, including SC, ST, BC, and women.