Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “I have been following local body elections for 25 years, but I have never seen elections where polling is deferred a day before voting. This reflects a systems failure. Measures should be taken to ensure such errors are not repeated in the future”
Bombay High Court. Representational Image
Counting for local body elections, originally scheduled for December 2, has now been postponed to December 21. Since polling in some areas was deferred until December 20, 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.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “I have been following local body elections for 25 years, but I have never seen elections where polling is deferred a day before voting. This reflects a system's failure. Measures should be taken to ensure such errors are not repeated in the future.”
Commenting on the development, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “No one even requested a change in the dates. No party wants a delay in the results; everyone wants them tomorrow. We had advised the Election Commission against this decision.”
The court also prohibited exit polls until December 20.
Nagpur, Maharashtra: Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule says, "Whatever the Nagpur Bench has ordered, you will have to accept it. The Bench has its authority, but the kind of order that has been issued shows the mistakes made by the State Election Commission. The way the State… pic.twitter.com/QQQNLC7N00
— IANS (@ians_india) December 2, 2025
7.94 pc turnout till 9.30 am in Maharashtra local polls; 2 'bogus' voters caught, claims Cong
An estimated 7.94 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling on Tuesday for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra, officials said.
Two suspected bogus voters were caught at a polling station in Buldhana barely an hour-and-a-half after voting began for the municipal council elections there, the Maharashtra Congress claimed.
It also alleged that Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was bringing people to cast "bogus" votes in the Buldhana Municipal Council elections.
There was no immediate response from the authorities on the allegation.
The polling began at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm, election officials said.
Till 9.30 am, 7.94 per cent of the electors cast their votes, they said.
A man allegedly attempted to cast a vote in the name of local resident Vaibhav Deshmukh at the Gandhi Primary School polling centre in ward no. 15 of Buldhana. The individual is said to be a resident of Kothali in Motala taluka, the Congress alleged in a statement.
Another person accompanying him was also detained, while Congress functionaries claimed that more individuals from Kothali and Ibrahimpur had been brought to Buldhana city with the intention of casting fraudulent votes.
The Opposition party alleged that Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was bringing people from rural areas to cast "bogus" votes in the Buldhana Municipal Council elections.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
