Mumbai, Dec 1 (PTI) Maharashtra will witness local body elections on Tuesday rpt Tuesday with voting scheduled for 242 municipal councils and 46 nagar panchayats, marking the first phase of a three-tier process mandated by the Supreme Court.
Incidentally, elections to some local bodies in Thane, Pune and Ahilyanagar districts were postponed to December 20 in view of judicial appeals filed against the decisions of Returning Officers following the scrutiny of nomination papers.
The SEC decision, announced on Saturday, comes in light of irregularities observed in the election process of some bodies, including timeline for withdrawal of nominations and allocation of election symbols.
The SEC said, in several cases, the appeal verdicts from the District Court were delivered after November 22, or in some instances, candidates did not get the three-day period to withdraw nomination papers as per Rule 17(1)(b) of Maharashtra Municipalities Election Rules, 1966.
As a result, the subsequent action of allocating election symbols on or after November 26 by returning officers was deemed illegal in these cases.
The SEC has therefore stayed (postponed) the current election process in such affected civic bodies. For member seats, the stay applies only to the specific seat for which the appeal was filed. The new program applies to seats and president’s posts where the appeal verdict was given by the courts on or after November 23, the SEC said.
Campaigning will end at 10 pm on Monday, with no poll advertisements being allowed on voting day. Once campaigning ends, political parties and candidates will not be permitted to organise rallies, take out campaign marches, or use loudspeakers and other modes of public canvassing, the SEC has said.
The SEC cited the ‘Media Regulation and Advertisement Certification Order, 2025’ issued on October 9, Paragraph 16 of Part VIII of which bars publication or broadcast of election advertisements in print, electronic or social media on polling day.
“Newspapers and other media outlets must not publish or air any form of advertisement on December 2,” the commission said.
The December 2 polls are being viewed as a major indicator of political sentiment in the state following the BJP-led Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the November 2024 assembly elections, securing 235 out of 288 seats.
The local body results will test whether this momentum translates to grassroots governance or if opposition consolidation can challenge the ruling coalition’s dominance at the municipal level, political observers said.
Votes will be counted on December 3. The elections will decide the fate of 6,859 members and 288 presidents across these local bodies, with over 1.07 crore eligible voters set to exercise their franchise at 13,355 polling stations.
Electronic Voting Machines will be deployed throughout, with more than 66,000 staff members assigned to ensure smooth conduct of the polls, officials said.
“Of the total seats, 3,492 are reserved for women, 895 for Scheduled Castes, 338 for Scheduled Tribes, and 1,821 for Other Backward Classes. The expenditure limit for candidates has been set at Rs 15 lakh for the post of president and Rs 12 lakh for post of member. The SEC received more than 51,000 nominations,” an official said.
Of the 246 municipal councils, 10 were formed recently, while of the 42 nagar panchayats going to polls, 15 are newly constituted, and 27 have completed their terms.
“Region-wise, the polls will cover 27 councils in Konkan, 59 in Nashik division, 60 in Pune division, and 55 in Nagpur division, making this a geographically diverse exercise spanning urban and semi-urban Maharashtra,” he added.
The polls have already witnessed significant political manoeuvring, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party facing off against the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) and Congress.
Stealing a march over other parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 100 councillor and three municipal president positions unopposed, with the party’s state unit chief Ravindra Chavan attributing this success to the public’s trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ leadership.
However, the BJP has faced criticism in Nanded’s Loha Nagar Parishad, where local NCP MLA Pratap Patil Chikhalikar questioned the party’s decision to field six candidates from the Suryavanshi family, including Gajanand Suryavanshi for chairman, along with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law.
The polls take place amid Opposition demands for postponement. These parties have claimed the July 1 voter roll revision contained duplicate and bogus entries.
Addressing the concerns, the Election Commission introduced a verification system marking suspected duplicate voters with double stars on lists, requiring strict identity checks at polling stations. It also launched a mobile application providing information about candidates and voters, including affidavits of candidates. Booth-wise voter lists were published on November 7 to facilitate awareness.
These local body elections are being conducted under a Supreme Court directive to complete pending polls by January 31, 2026. The schedules for 29 municipal corporations, 32 Zilla Parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis are yet to be announced. The crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, last held in 2017, are expected around mid-January. PTI MR BNM
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