The Supreme Court has ordered the local body elections of Maharashtra to be held by 31 January 2026. The court accepted the request of the State Election Commission to postpone the election. The court has said that after this it will not consider extending the date.
Due to the ongoing dispute over OBC reservation, elections of several urban bodies including Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were being postponed since 2022. On May 6 this year, the Supreme Court put a stop to this and made it clear that the reservation will be given from the same system which was applicable before 2022.
Instructions were given to the Election Commission of Supreme Court
In the order given on May 6 this year, a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Surya Kant had asked the State Election Commission to issue the election notification in 4 weeks. The court also said that the Commission should try to complete the election process within 4 months. In the hearing held on Tuesday (September 16, 2025), the judges expressed displeasure that the notification of the election has not been released yet.
What the state Election Commission argued on the court’s direction,
On this, the lawyer of the Maharashtra State Election Commission requested the court to give some more time. He told that the delimitation of seats is taking some time. Apart from this, for the first time, the Commission is going to hold elections of all the bodies including 29 municipalities simultaneously. For this, 50 thousand additional EVMs are required. Its order has been given to the company concerned.
Supreme Court accepted the argument of Election Commission
The court, while admitting this argument, said that it is giving the last opportunity to the Commission. The seats should be completed by 31 October. Additional EVMs should also be arranged by 31 October. After this, the election process should start. Elections of all bodies including Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Municipality should be held simultaneously. The entire process should be completed by 31 January. The next hearing of the case will be held in February.
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