A major announcement regarding local body elections in Maharashtra is expected today. The State Election Commission will hold a press conference at 4 pm to announce the election schedule. All political parties are closely monitoring this announcement.
The picture regarding the long-delayed local body elections in Maharashtra is now becoming clearer. The Maharashtra State Election Commission is scheduled to hold a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, at 4 p.m. During this press conference, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare is expected to announce the local body elections. According to reports, municipal and city council elections are expected to be held in the first phase. Gram Panchayat and other elections are expected to follow.
When will the elections be completed?
The Election Commission is attempting to hold elections for the state’s 29 municipalities, including Mumbai, between January 15 and 20, 2026. Voting for municipalities and town councils will take place in November. The schedule for elections for district councils and panchayat committees will be announced during the municipal corporation election process or immediately after voting. Due to heavy rains and floods, the government machinery is still engaged in relief work in rural areas. Therefore, it is believed that these elections will be held in December.
The opposition has made these allegations.
This press conference comes at a time when the opposition has demanded the postponement of the elections, alleging serious irregularities in the recently released July 1 voter list. Opposition parties claim that a large number of duplicate and fake names have been included in the list, raising questions about the fairness of the election process. It should be noted that the path for local body and municipal elections in the state has recently been cleared. Years-long pending issues such as ward structure and reservation for Other Backward Classes had been hampering the elections. If the Election Commission announces the results today, the first phase of elections will be announced for 246 municipalities and 42 municipal councils.
Shiv Sena announced its intention to approach the court.
The Shiv Sena UBT has announced its intention to approach the court with evidence regarding this issue. The party states that holding elections without addressing the flaws in the list will undermine the democratic process. Meanwhile, election officials say that once the election notification is issued, court intervention becomes difficult. Recently, Dilip Walse Patil, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a minister from the Ajit Pawar faction, made a viral statement regarding the possible dates for the local body elections. He stated that, according to his information, the Zilla Parishad elections could be held on December 15th and the Municipal Corporation elections on January 15th. He also stated that the Supreme Court has set a deadline of January 31, 2026, for completing the pending local body elections.