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Maharashtra volition witnesser local assemblage elections connected Monday (December 1, 2025) with voting scheduled for 242 municipal councils and 46 nagar panchayats, marking the archetypal signifier of a three-tier process mandated by the Supreme Court.
Incidentally, elections to immoderate section bodies successful Thane, Pune and Ahilyanagar districts were postponed to December 20, 2025 successful presumption of judicial appeals filed against the decisions of Returning Officers pursuing the scrutiny of information papers.
The SEC decision, announced connected Saturday (November 29, 2025), comes successful airy of irregularities observed successful the predetermination process of immoderate bodies, including timeline for withdrawal of nominations and allocation of predetermination symbols.
The SEC said, successful respective cases, the entreaty verdicts from the District Court were delivered aft November 22, oregon successful immoderate instances, candidates did not get the three-day play to retreat information papers arsenic per Rule 17(1)(b) of Maharashtra Municipalities Election Rules, 1966.
As a result, the consequent enactment of allocating predetermination symbols connected oregon aft November 26 by returning officers was deemed amerciable successful these cases.
The SEC has truthful stayed (postponed) the existent predetermination process successful specified affected civic bodies. For subordinate seats, the enactment applies lone to the circumstantial spot for which the entreaty was filed. “The caller programme applies to seats and president's posts wherever the entreaty verdict was fixed by the courts connected oregon aft November 23,” the SEC said.
Campaigning volition extremity astatine 10 p.m. connected Monday (December 1, 2025), with nary canvass advertisements being allowed connected voting day. “Once campaigning ends, governmental parties and candidates volition not beryllium permitted to organise rallies, instrumentality retired run marches, oregon usage loudspeakers and different modes of nationalist canvassing,” the SEC has said.
The SEC cited the 'Media Regulation and Advertisement Certification Order, 2025' issued connected October 9, Paragraph 16 of Part VIII of which bars work oregon broadcast of predetermination advertisements successful print, physics oregon societal media connected polling day.
"Newspapers and different media outlets indispensable not people oregon aerial immoderate signifier of advertisement connected December 2," the committee said.
The December 2 polls are being viewed arsenic a large indicator of governmental sentiment successful the State pursuing the BJP-led Mahayuti's landslide triumph successful the November 2024 Assembly elections, securing 235 retired of 288 seats.
“The section assemblage results volition trial whether this momentum translates to grassroots governance oregon if absorption consolidation tin situation the ruling coalition's dominance astatine the municipal level,” governmental observers said.
Votes volition beryllium counted connected December 3, 2025. The elections volition determine the destiny of 6,859 members and 288 presidents crossed these section bodies, with much than 1.07 crore eligible voters acceptable to workout their franchise astatine 13,355 polling stations.
“Electronic Voting Machines volition beryllium deployed throughout, with much than 66,000 unit members assigned to guarantee creaseless behaviour of the polls,” officials said.
"Of the full seats, 3,492 are reserved for women, 895 for Scheduled Castes, 338 for Scheduled Tribes, and 1,821 for Other Backward Classes. The expenditure bounds for candidates has been acceptable astatine ₹15 lakh for the station of president and ₹12 lakh for station of member. The SEC received much than 51,000 nominations," an authoritative said.
Of the 246 municipal councils, 10 were formed recently, portion of the 42 nagar panchayats going to polls, 15 are recently constituted, and 27 person completed their terms.
"Region-wise, the polls volition screen 27 councils successful Konkan, 59 successful Nashik division, 60 successful Pune division, and 55 successful Nagpur division, making this a geographically divers workout spanning municipality and semi-urban Maharashtra," helium added.
The polls person already witnessed important governmental manoeuvring, with the ruling Mahayuti confederation of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party facing disconnected against the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and the Congress.
Stealing a march implicit different parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 100 councillor and 3 municipal president positions unopposed, with the party's State portion main Ravindra Chavan attributing this occurrence to the public's spot successful Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' leadership.
However, the BJP has faced disapproval successful Nanded's Loha Nagar Parishad, wherever section NCP MLA Pratap Patil Chikhalikar questioned the party's determination to tract six candidates from the Suryavanshi family, including Gajanand Suryavanshi for chairman, on with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law.
The polls instrumentality spot amid Opposition demands for postponement. These parties person claimed the July 1 elector rotation revision contained duplicate and bogus entries.
Addressing the concerns, the Election Commission of India introduced a verification strategy marking suspected duplicate voters with treble stars connected lists, requiring strict individuality checks astatine polling stations. It besides launched a mobile exertion providing accusation astir candidates and voters, including affidavits of candidates. Booth-wise elector lists were published connected November 7, 2025 to facilitate awareness.
These section assemblage elections are being conducted nether a Supreme Court directive to implicit pending polls by January 31, 2026. The schedules for 29 municipal corporations, 32 zilla parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis are yet to beryllium announced. The important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, past held successful 2017, are expected astir mid-January.
