A senior official stated on Monday (May 19) that local body polls might be conducted by the end of the year once all formalities are fulfilled.
On May 6, the apex court cleared the path for Maharashtra’s local body polls, which had been on hold for over five years due to the OBC reservation matter, directing the state election panel to issue a notification within four weeks.
“The ward formation process will take approximately 70 days. This will be succeeded by reservations, requiring another 15 days. Updating the electoral rolls will take about 40 days. Thus, local body elections can occur by year-end,” said state election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare in an interview with PTI.
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The terms of all 29 municipal corporations, 248 Nagar Parishads, 42 Nagar Panchayats, 32 Zilla Parishads, and 336 Panchayat Samitis have lapsed, and these entities are currently managed by administrators. The tenure of 27 municipal corporations expired between 2020 and 2023, with Ichalkaranji and Jalna being newly established municipal corporations.
“Elections faced delays for multiple reasons, including petitions regarding OBC reservations, ward formation, the number of members in local bodies, and the government taking over ward formation authority,” Waghmare mentioned. On May 6, the Supreme Court instructed the Maharashtra state election commission to announce elections within four weeks.
The sensitive topic of OBC reservations will revert to the status quo prior to the 2022 Banthia Commission report. The Supreme Court acknowledged the commission’s report, which suggested a census to obtain accurate data on OBCs and allocate 27% of seats for this category in local bodies. The Banthia Commission was established in March 2022 to investigate the OBC reservation issue in local bodies and recommended a 27% reservation for OBCs within the 50% reservation limit.
Discussing Mumbai, Waghmare clarified that elections for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will be for the current 227 seats, rather than the 236 previously agreed upon. In the upcoming local elections, the Mahayuti alliance, which dominated the assembly polls last November, will face the challenge of retaining its hold against the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
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The Mahayuti, which consists of the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, as well as the MVA, including Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and Congress, must also determine whether to contest independently or collaborate within their respective factions.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis indicated that the Mahayuti will collectively approach local body elections as a principle. However, separate contests in certain areas remain a possibility, he added.
Within the MVA, Congress has transferred the decision-making authority to local leadership, while Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray has mentioned he is consulting his base regarding strategies for the local body elections. NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil has urged his party to gear up for local elections. Observers are viewing these polls as a “mini Vidhan Sabha.”
