Supreme Court order on local polls in Maharashtra
POLITY – JUDICIARY
6 OCTOBER 2025
- The Supreme Court recently directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to conduct elections of all local bodies by January 31, 2026.
- It also pulled up the Commission for not complying with its earlier order of May 6, directing it to notify the elections by September 6.
- The continuous delay in conducting these elections is attributable not only to the pendency of the OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservation issue, but also the judicial delays, inconsistency, and lack of political will.
- Today in Maharashtra, 29 Municipal Corporations, 248 Municipal Councils, along with hundreds of Nagar Panchayats, 32 out of 34 Zilla Parishads, 336 out of 351 Panchayat Samitis are run by administrators.
- While the biggest municipal corporation in India, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with an annual budget of over ₹74,000 crore, has been functioning without corporators since March 2022, the newly formed Municipal Corporations in the State, at Jalna and Ichalkaranji, await their corporators since their inception.
SC ruling on OBC Reservation issue
- In 2010, the Supreme Court left it to the States to carry out a ‘rigorous investigation’ to decide which communities are ‘politically backward’ and should benefit from OBC reservation in local bodies.
- In March 2021, the apex court laid down a three-fold test to provide these reservations.
- As the State of Maharashtra failed to fulfil this test, in March 2022, the Banthia Commission was set up.
- It submitted its report in July 2022, which is currently under challenge before the Supreme Court.
- Meanwhile, the court ordered that States should carry out elections without the OBC quota if they fail to fulfil the criteria.
- Thus, the Commission conducted elections in 106 municipalities after relocating the OBC quota seats to the general category.
- On May 6, 2025, the apex court directed the State Election Commission to conduct elections with OBC reservation as existed prior to the 2022 Banthia Commission report.
- It reminded the Commission how local body elections are necessary for keeping democracy alive at the grassroots.
Having a strong self-governance system at the local level, especially in villages, is a part of the law, after the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments.
