Bombay High Court Postpones Maharashtra Local Body Election Results to December 21, Bans Exit Polls

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has instructed the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct vote counting for all local body elections on December 21, rather than the originally scheduled December 3.

Additionally, the court has implemented a ban on exit polls until December 20.

This significant ruling was delivered on the same day that voting was taking place for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats throughout Maharashtra. The SEC had previously rescheduled polls in 24 local bodies to December 20 due to apparent irregularities in the electoral process.

The high court was addressing multiple petitions that challenged the SEC's revised schedule from November 29.

One petition specifically contested the postponement of polls for a division of the Chandrapur Municipal Council to December 20.

The SEC's revised program had allowed polling and result declaration for the remaining 26 wards to proceed according to the original timeline.

Social activist Sachin Chute, one of the petitioners, argued that result declarations should "be conducted on a single date and not in a staggered or bifurcated manner."

His petition claimed that the poll body's decision "violated the fundamental principle that elections must be free, fair and provide a level playing field to all candidates."

Yash Kullarwar, Chute's legal representative, contended that results for all wards should be announced simultaneously.

Senior advocate Firdos Mirza, representing another petitioner, confirmed to PTI that the High Court has postponed the vote counting for local body elections to December 21.

The court will continue hearing petitions against the SEC's revised election program on December 10.

The first phase of voting for 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats was underway when the court issued its directive.

Elections to 24 local bodies had been rescheduled to December 20 due to judicial appeals filed against decisions made by Returning Officers following nomination paper scrutiny.

The SEC announced on Saturday that its decision was prompted by irregularities observed in certain local bodies' election processes, including issues with nomination withdrawal timelines and election symbol allocation.

The SEC noted that in several instances, District Court appeal verdicts were delivered after November 22, or candidates didn't receive the mandatory three-day period to withdraw nomination papers as required by Rule 17(1)(b) of the Maharashtra Municipalities Election Rules, 1966.

Consequently, the subsequent allocation of election symbols on or after November 26 by returning officers was deemed illegal in these cases.

The SEC has therefore postponed the current election process in these affected civic bodies.