The Maharashtra State Election Commission has postponed the announcement of local body election results from December 3 to December 21, following an order by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.
A division bench of Justices Anil S. Kilor and Rajneesh R. Vyas observed that declaring results in phases could influence voting patterns and outcomes in the subsequent phases. The ruling came in response to multiple petitions from Warora, Gondia and other municipal wards challenging the Commission’s plan to conduct counting and declare results separately for each phase.
The petitioners requested that all results within each municipal council be announced together on a single day, instead of being split across phases.
Voting for Nagar Panchayats and Parishads was completed on Tuesday, and results were initially set for December 3. In line with the court’s directive, counting for these elections will now take place on December 21, coinciding with the results of the remaining local body polls scheduled for voting on December 20.
The opposition has raised concerns over the abrupt change in the counting date, despite the schedule previously announced by the Commission.
Congress leader Nana Patole alleged that the Election Commission was undermining democratic systems, calling on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to initiate impeachment proceedings, which the Congress, he said, would support.
“The way the Election Commission has planned to murder the country’s democratic systems, one example of that was seen in the Maharashtra local body elections… We want to tell CM Devendra Fadnavis to bring an impeachment against the Election Commission. The Congress will support it,” Congress leader Patole said.
Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal also criticised the conduct of the polls, citing administrative lapses and irregularities. He accused the Election Commission of acting under the Chief Minister’s influence, claiming that postponing voting by 40 hours and delaying the counting process had exposed its bias. Sapkal added that around 25,000 complaints may have been filed across the state and said the election had dealt a significant blow to democracy.
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