Maharashtra local body elections likely by year-end as ward formation begins

The Maharashtra State Election Commission has begun the process of ward formation in connection with Maharashtra local body polls after the Supreme Courts order earlier this month reported news agency PTIMaharashtra local body polls could be held by the end of the year once various formalities are completed a top official said on MondayOn May 6 the apex court paved the way for Maharashtra local body polls which were stalled for more than five years due to the OBC reservation issue ordering the state election panel to notify it in four weeksThe process of ward formation will take about 70 days It will be followed by reservations which will take another 15 days The process of updating electoral rolls will take another 40 days The local body elections can be held by the end of this year state election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare told PTIThe tenure of all 29 municipal corporations 248 Nagar Parishads 42 Nagar Panchayats 32 Zilla Parishads and 336 Panchayat Samitis has expired and these are currently under administrators The term of 27 municipal corporations ended between 20202023 Ichalkaranji and Jalna are newly created municipal corporationsThe elections were delayed for several reasons including petitions regarding OBC reservation ward formation number of members in local bodies power of ward formation taken by the government Waghmare told PTIOn May 6 the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra state election commission to notify elections in four weeksThe contentious issue of OBC reservation will be as it existed before the 2022 Banthia Commission reportThe top court accepted the commissions report recommending a census to fix exact data on OBCs and reserve 27 per cent of seats for the category in local bodiesThe Banthia Commission was set up in March 2022 to examine the issue of OBC reservation in local bodies It recommended 27 per cent reservation for OBCs within the 50 per cent reservation ceilingSpeaking about Mumbai Waghmare said elections for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation would be for the existing 227 seats and not 236 as was decided earlier reported PTIIn the local polls the Mahayuti alliance which swept the assembly polls in November last year will face the challenge of maintaining its dominance over the Maha Vikas AghadiThe Mahayuti comprising the BJP Eknath Shindes Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawarled NCP and the MVA which has the Shiv Sena UBT NCP SP and Congress as constituents also have to decide on whether to fight alone or as part of respective groupsChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the Mahayuti as a policy will fight the local bodies together However they can contest separately in some places he had addedIn the MVA Congress has left the decision to the local leadership while Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray has said he is speaking to his cadre on the strategy for the local body pollsNCP SP leader Jayant Patil has also asked his party unit to prepare for the local electionsThe Maharashtra local body polls are being seen as mini Vidhan Sabha by observersWith inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params