Papatoetoe re-run final results: Who are the top Indian candidates

Final results for the 2026 Papatoetoe subdivision local board election have been released, covering all 20 candidates.

The final results, announced today, Vi Hausia from Labour ranked 1st with 2858 votes, followed by Jeet Singh from Papatoetoe Otara Action Team at 2nd with 2503 votes,  Sandeep Saini, Papatoetoe Otara Action Team 3rd with 2499 votes and Kushma Nair, Papatoetoe Otara Action Team at 4th with 2399 votes.

At the prelimiary results, Vi Hausia, Labour, was at 1st rank with 2788 votes, Jeet Singh from Papatoetoe Otara Action Team at 2nd with 2484 votes, Sandeep Saini, Papatoetoe Otara Action Team 3rd with 2479 votes and Kushma Nair, Papatoetoe Otara Action Team at 4th with 2383 votes, followed by others.

The preliminary result signaled a shift from the 2025 election, when the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team secured all four seats last year.

While three of its members have been returned in the latest vote, Labour candidate and judicial inquiry petitioner Lehopoaome Vi Hausia has emerged as the top vote-getter, ending the group’s clean sweep.

The vote marks a rare re-run in Auckland’s local elections, ordered after irregularities were identified in the October poll last year.

The original result was set aside following allegations of voting issues, with a district court finding evidence of about 70 stolen and misused voting papers. The judge accepted the irregularities could point to wider fraud and may have affected the outcome.

In the months that followed, a separate legal challenge was filed in February when four winning candidates from the voided election sought a High Court judicial review. After a hearing on 17 February, the High Court upheld the District Court’s decision to void the result.

In a judgment delivered on March 5, 2026, Justice Jane Anderson ruled that the court could not revisit key factual findings due to limits under the Local Electoral Act 2001, declining the orders sought and dismissing both the applications for judicial review and requests for declarations.

The re-run election was subsequently held for the Papatoetoe subdivision, with preliminary results now released.

The successful candidates will join three Labour representatives on the wider Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board.