The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court connected Friday (September 19, 2025) dismissed a batch of petitions filed by respective individuals from crossed Maharashtra challenging the last notifications of ward enactment for upcoming Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections. The Court ruled that interference astatine this signifier would derail the predetermination process, which the Supreme Court has already directed to beryllium completed wrong 4 months.
The petitions had been filed against the State of Maharashtra (through its Rural Development Department), the State Election Commission, Divisional Commissioners, District Collectors, Sub-Divisional Officers, Tahsildars, Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis successful antithetic districts.
A Division Bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Y.G. Khobragade delivered a communal judgement successful the petitions filed by citizens from Hingoli, Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar), Nanded, Beed, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts.
The Bench observed that Article 243-O of the Constitution imposes a wide barroom connected judicial interference successful matters concerning ward enactment and allotment of seats. The Judges clarified that specified challenges could beryllium entertained lone successful the rarest of cases wherever nary objections were invited oregon nary hearings were held, and adjacent then, not aft the predetermination process has begun.
“This Court, exercising jurisdiction nether Article 226 of the Constitution of India, would beryllium loath to lightly interfere with the last notification successful airy of the Constitutional barroom to interference successful specified matters,” Justice Pitale wrote successful the judgment.
The petitioners alleged arbitrary inclusion and exclusion of villages portion forming wards for Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections, claiming that objections filed by residents had either been ignored oregon rejected without due exertion of mind.
The Court, however, recovered that owed process was followed. It noted that draught notifications were published, objections were invited, hearings were conducted, and elaborate reasons were recorded earlier finalising ward boundaries.
“Proper proceeding was granted and for the reasons recorded successful writing, the objections were dealt with, and the last notification was issued,” the Bench observed. Disputes implicit attachment oregon detachment of villages, the Judges added, were “purely disputed questions of fact” that could not beryllium examined successful writ proceedings but lone done predetermination petitions.
The Court besides referred to the Supreme Court’s May 6, 2025, bid successful Rahul Ramesh Wagh v. State of Maharashtra, which directed that long-pending section assemblage elections successful the authorities indispensable beryllium concluded wrong 4 months and that OBC reservations beryllium restored to the pre-2022 framework. Stressing the urgency of polls, the Bench observed, “Unless the petitioners are capable to marque retired a compelling lawsuit for interference, this Court would not beryllium inclined to amusement immoderate indulgence, arsenic it would magnitude to derailing the process of elections to section bodies successful the State of Maharashtra.”
Highlighting the larger law mandate of section self-governance, the tribunal noted, “The Supreme Court has emphasized upon the request to clasp elections successful a democracy, truthful that section self-government, contemplated nether the strategy of the Constitution, is achieved astatine the earliest.”
With the dismissal of each petitions, the State Election Commission is present escaped to proceed with notifying and conducting the long-delayed Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections crossed Maharashtra.
