Maharashtra: SEC calls meeting of 29 civic chiefs on December 4

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The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has convened a meeting of the commissioners of 29 municipal corporations in the state on Thursday (Dec 4) to discuss the finalisation of voter rolls, reported news agency PTI.

The meeting will deliberate on the finalisation of the electoral list and the issue of duplicate voters, said officials on Wednesday.

The 29 corporations include Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Kolhapur, Ulhasnagar, Pimpri Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, and Akola, reported PTI.

The civic chiefs from Latur, Parbhani, Chandrapur, Bhivandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded, Sangli, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar and the commissioners of the newly formed Ichalkaranji and Jalna have also been called for the meeting, reported PTI.

The elections to local bodies in Maharashtra have to be completed before January 31 2026, as directed by the Supreme Court.

Polling for the first phase of 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the state was held on Tuesday amid allegations of bogus voting and violence, with even supporters of ruling allies BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena coming to blows at some places, officials said. The votes will be counted on December 21.

Counting of votes for Maharashtra local body polls to be held on Dec 21, not Dec 3: HC

Meanwhile, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the counting of votes for all the local body polls on December 21, instead of December 3, reported PTI.

The court also prohibited exit polls until December 20.

The HC's directive came on a day when voting was underway for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra. The SEC last week rescheduled the polls in 24 local bodies to December 20 due to certain apparent irregularities in the process, reported PTI.

The high court was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the SEC's November 29 revised schedule.

One of the petitions challenged the postponement of polls for one division of the Chandrapur Municipal Council to December 20.

But the revised programme has permitted polling and declaration of results for the remaining 26 wards and the counting to proceed as per the original schedule.

However, one of the petitioners, social activist Sachin Chute, pleaded that the declaration of results should "be conducted on a single date and not in a staggered or bifurcated manner", reported PTI.

The petition claimed that the poll body's order "violated the fundamental principle that elections must be free, fair and provide a level playing field to all candidates".

(With inputs from PTI)