SC Slams Maharashtra Election Commission, Orders To Hold All Local Body Elections by 31st January
Moneylife Digital Team 16 September 2025
The Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed 31 January 2026 as the final deadline for the conduct of all local body elections in Maharashtra, while expressing sharp displeasure at the state election commission (SEC) for repeated delays. The Court said the SEC had failed to comply with earlier directions and stressed that no further extensions will be permitted.
 
A bench of justice Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi says elections to zila parishads, panchayat samitis and municipalities must be completed within the timeline, calling the extension a 'one-time concession'. The judges emphasised that delimitation cannot be used as an excuse to defer polls any further. The delimitation exercise must now be concluded by 31 October 2025.
 
During the hearing, SEC had argued that elections were delayed due to multiple reasons, including the ongoing delimitation process for municipalities, shortage of electronic voting machines (EVMs), lack of school premises because of board exams, and inadequate staff. The Court dismissed these explanations, noting that board exams scheduled for March 2026 cannot be grounds to postpone elections due by January.
 
“We are constrained to observe that SEC has failed to take prompt action for compliance of this Court’s directions,” the bench observed, underlining that the constitutional mandate of grassroots democracy through periodic elections must be respected.
 
To address the shortage of staff, the Court directed SEC to submit its requirements to the chief secretary within two weeks. The chief secretary must coordinate with other departments and ensure deployment within four weeks. For the electronic voting machine (EVM) shortfall, SEC has been ordered to make arrangements and file a compliance affidavit by 30 November 2025.
 
The Court also suggested that the State and SEC seek to consolidate multiple petitions pending before different benches of the Bombay High Court that raise issues of delimitation, ward reservations, and other election-related challenges, and asked the chief justice of the High Court to 'sympathetically consider' such a request.
 
Local body elections in Maharashtra have been pending since 2022, when disputes over other backward class (OBC) reservations and litigation surrounding the Banthia Commission report stalled the process. 
 
 
According to the ministry of panchayati raj, elections remain pending in 26 out of 34 zila parishads, 289 out of 351 block panchayats, and over 26,700 gram panchayats in Maharashtra. As a result, funds worth nearly Rs3,000 crore have not been released to the state since FY22–23, leaving local governance in limbo.
 
The Court reiterated that, while amendments concerning OBC quotas can be addressed later, elections cannot be held hostage to such delays. “The constitutional mandate of grassroots democracy must be ensured,” the bench state, adding that Maharashtra’s SEC and government must now adhere strictly to the fresh schedule.
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