Supreme Court Raps Maharashtra State Election Commission For Delay in Conducting Local Body Polls

Th bench expressed its dissatisfaction with the SEC for not complying with the earlier direction issued on May 6, as per which elections had to be concluded within a period of four months.

The Wire Staff

Th bench expressed its dissatisfaction with the SEC for not complying with the earlier direction issued on May 6, as per which elections had to be concluded within a period of four months.

supreme court raps maharashtra state election commission for delay in conducting local body polls

The Supreme Court. Photo: The Wire.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 16) rapped the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) for failing to adhere with the time schedule that the court had set earlier for conducting the local body elections in the state.

The court extended the timeline as a one-time concession, and said that elections to all local bodies in Maharashtra have to be conducted by Janaury 31, 2026. The apex court made it clear that no further extension shall be granted, reported LiveLaw.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also directed that delimitation shall be completed by October 31, 2025, with such an exercise not being the ground to defer elections.

Th bench expressed its dissatisfaction with the SEC for not complying with the earlier direction issued on May 6, as per which elections had to be concluded within a period of four months.

"We are constrained to observe that SEC has failed to take prompt action for compliance of this Court's directions in prescribed time schedule," said the court.

The Court further directed the SEC to submit details of staff required to the chief secretary of State within two weeks. It also directed the SEC to make necessary arrangements and file a compliance affidavit regarding the availability of EVMs by November 30.

When the court was informed that various petitions have been filed before different benches of the Bombay high court about election-related issues, questioning delimitation, reservation of wards, etc, the Supreme Court said that the State/SEC may seek clubbing of all petitions before one bench.

It also requested the Chief Justice of the high court to "sympathetically consider" such a prayer made by the State/SEC.

This article went live on September seventeenth, two thousand twenty five, at forty-six minutes past ten in the morning.

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