December 2025

Ahead of upcoming sarpanch (village head) elections, over 500 nominations were filed across around 90 gram panchayats (GPs) in Mancherial district — reflecting high local political activity. However, there are serious concerns: some villages like Gudem in Dandepalli mandal haven’t elected a sarpanch in decades because their seats are “reserved” for Scheduled Tribes (ST) — even though the village reportedly has no tribal population. Similar issues exist in other gram panchayats — reservation rules have prevented actual elections, leaving gaps in local governance and representation.

After the 2023 assembly elections, Premsagar Rao won from the Mancherial Assembly Constituency. Gaddam Vinod Kumar reclaimed the Bellampalli Assembly Constituency (also in Mancherial district) representing Indian National Congress (INC), gaining the seat back from the rival party. These results shape the district’s current political leadership, with INC representatives holding key assembly positions.