18 December,2025 10:10 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
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Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare on Wednesday directed district administrations and police authorities to take strict preventive measures to ensure peaceful polling and counting during the upcoming municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in the state, reported news agency PTI.
Polling to elect presidents and members in 24 municipal councils and nagar panchayats and 154 seats in 76 local bodies will be held on December 20.
The first phase of elections to 264 municipal council and nagar panchayat polls in the state were held on December 2.
The counting of votes for all 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats will take place on December 21.
Waghmare issued the directions while reviewing preparedness through video conferences with district collectors, police commissioners, superintendents of police and election officers over the last two days. State Election Commission Secretary Suresh Kakani, Inspector General of Police Manojkumar Sharma and other senior officials were present, reported PTI.
The SEC said polling and counting must be conducted smoothly and peacefully, and any untoward incident should invite immediate and strict action. Authorities were also asked to promptly inform the media, voters, candidates and political parties about the action taken to avoid any misinformation or wrong public perception.
Kakani said that while polling will take place at limited locations on December 20, counting across all municipal councils and nagar panchayats will be held on December 21, requiring close coordination among police and other agencies, particularly after the declaration of results, reported PTI.
He also reminded officials that election campaigning through electronic or print media will not be permitted after 10 pm on December 19, the day prior to polling.
IG Manojkumar Sharma said adequate security arrangements must be in place to maintain law and order on polling and counting days, and stressed the need for timely communication of police action to the public, reported PTI.
High-stakes polls to 29 municipal corporations, including the cash-rich Mumbai, on January 15 will see the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) battling it out for electoral supremacy in Maharashtra's major urban centres.
The poll schedule announcement was made by Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday in compliance of an order from the Supreme Court fixing January 31 next year as the deadline for holding the long-pending local body elections in the state.
The court in September this year had also censured the SEC for its "failure to take prompt action" and adhere to earlier timelines.
The January 15 elections, involving 2,869 seats and over 3.48 crore voters, set the stage for a crucial political showdown between the Mahayuti comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the MVA coalition of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP (SP).
These are first municipal corporations post-splits in the Shiv Sena (2022) and the Nationalist Congress Party (2023), developments which reshaped Maharashtra's politics.
Votes will be counted on January 16. While one corporator will be elected from each seat in Mumbai (227 wards), three to five corporators will get chosen by voters per ward in 28 other civic bodies.
After the assembly polls, old alliances too are taking new shape, suiting local politics. The phase one of local body polls saw an intense contest among Mahayuti partners with the Shiv Sena and the BJP slugging it out in several municipal council polls earlier this month.
(With inputs from PTI)
