Supreme Court directs Maharashtra local body polls by January 31; pulls up State Election Commission for delay

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that all local body elections in Maharashtra must be conducted by January 31, 2026 [Rahul Ramesh Wagh v. State of Maharashtra & Ors].

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi criticised the State Election Commission (SEC) for failing to act on earlier orders and for citing reasons such as staff shortage, board exams and EVM procurement to delay the process.

The Court was hearing pleas concerning the long-pending elections to local bodies in the State, which had been stalled since 2022 following disputes over the implementation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations. In May this year, the Court had directed that the elections be concluded within four months, by September 2025.

When the matter came up today, the Bench noted with concern that the elections had still not been notified. The judges first asked the SEC about the status of elections, pointing to its May directions.

“Have local body elections taken place or not?” Justice Kant asked.

Counsel for the SEC informed the Court that the delimitation exercise was underway and the voter lists prepared, but the Commission had filed an application seeking more time.

“We are 10–15 days over that time…the process is continuous,” counsel argued, seeking an extension until January.

The Bench was not convinced by this submission.

“You want to take a jump from September to January? Why should we grant you so much time?” Justice Kant remarked.

When counsel for the SEC cited the scale of the exercise involving 29 municipal corporations and said that 50,000 more EVMs were required, Justice Kant reminded the Commission that these issues were foreseeable.

“Are you conducting these elections for the first time? This fact was known to you even on the date when we passed the first order. Your inaction speaks that you are incompetent. First of all, delimitation is not a valid reason that you should hold back the elections,” Justice Kant said.

Counsel for the petitioners accused the SEC of dragging its feet despite clear directions from the Court. They submitted that the Commission had restarted the entire process unnecessarily and that there was no real hurdle to notifying elections within two weeks.

“They have started everything afresh. Even delimitation is not finalised in many cases. This will not be completed by January 2026 either. The reasons they are giving, staff unavailability, board examinations, EVM unavailability,” counsel said.

When the SEC cited board examinations as a reason for delay since schools are usually used as polling stations, Justice Kant remained unconvinced.

“When are the board exams? They are usually in March,” he observed.

In its order, the Court recorded that the SEC had failed to take timely steps to adhere to its May 6 directions, which had required elections to be concluded by September. It, however, granted a one-time concession, issuing a strict timeline for compliance.

The Court directed that the delimitation exercise for all local bodies be completed by October 31, 2025, with no further extension to be granted. It also rejected the plea that board exams justified postponement of elections.

The Bench ordered the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra to immediately deploy sufficient staff for election duty. The SEC was directed to submit details of required staff within two weeks and the Chief Secretary to provide the officers within four weeks thereafter.

As for the shortage of EVMs, the Court directed the SEC to make arrangements and file a compliance report by November 30.

“All elections, including those to Zila Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and all municipalities, shall be conducted by 31 January 2026. No further extension shall be granted,” the order said.

Finally, noting that several petitions relating to delimitation and reservation of wards were pending before different benches of the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court said that the State and SEC could seek clubbing of these petitions.