Hold local body polls in Maharashtra within four months, directs Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday in an interim order ordered local body elections in Maharashtra to be notified within four weeks and completed within four months, Live Law reported.

However, it allowed the Election Commission to approach it in case further time was required.

The elections in 27 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, 243 nagar parishads and 289 rural panchayats, have been stalled since 2022 due to a case in the Supreme Court reservation for Other Backward Classes.

The terms of these representatives for various bodies ended between 2020 and 2022.

“Today, bureaucrats are occupying all the municipal corporations and panchayats and are making major policy decisions,” the court was quoted as saying by The Hindu. “A complete democratic process has been stalled due to this litigation. Officers have no accountability. Why not allow the elections as per the present data?”

OBC communities account for over 38% of Maharashtra's population, a significant vote bank.

The Maharashtra government had announced 27% reservation for OBCs in local bodies. But in 2021, the decision was struck down by the Supreme Court because it breached the 50% limit the court had set on the total number of reservations.

In 2022, the Maharashtra government again announced 27% reservation in certain rural and smaller urban bodies based on the recommendations of the Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission, which was...

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