Counting of votes for local body polls to be held on Dec 21, not Dec 3: HC

The high court also prohibited exit polls until half an hour after polling ends for the 24 municipal councils and nagar panchayats where elections will now be held on December 20

NAGPUR: The counting of votes for elections to the 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats that went to the polls on Tuesday will be held on December 21, instead of December 3, following a directive from the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.

Thane, India - December -02, 2025: KulgaonÐBadlapur Municipal Council (nager Parishad)General Election 2025: In Badlapur, Thane district, voting for the KulgaonÐBadlapur Municipal Council (nager Parishad) has begun on Tuesday Womens voters can be seen standing in queues at the polling stations at badalapur East ,in Thane ,in Mumbai, India, on, Tuesday, December -02, 2025. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo) (Praful Gangurde)

In an interim order passed on Tuesday, the high court also prohibited exit polls until half an hour after polling ends for the 24 municipal councils and nagar panchayats where elections will now be held on December 20. These bodies were also slated to vote on Tuesday, but the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) postponed the elections on Saturday, citing irregularities in the election process. Because of the postponement, the court said, the model code of conduct will also remain in force until December 20.

The bench was hearing several petitions challenging the SEC’s revised polling schedule. The petitions sought to align the vote count with the revised schedule, arguing that declaring the results on December 3 could influence voting in the December 20 elections in other constituencies.

One of the petitions related to Chandrapur district, where the SEC had halted voting in ward 7 of the Warora Municipal Council but planned to declare results for the remaining 13 wards on December 3. BJP candidate Sachin Chute said in his petition that he was informed of the amended schedule only on November 30. He urged the court to align Warora’s vote counting with the statewide schedule on December 21.

Senior lawyer Firdos Mirza, appearing for one of the petitioners, said the bench also clarified that no exit polls would be permitted until December 20. The high court will further hear the petitions against the SEC’s revised election schedule on December 10.

The high court’s directive comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions surrounding the long-delayed local body elections across Maharashtra, which have been held up for over three years. While 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats voted on Tuesday, the SEC postponed polling in 24 others due to alleged irregularities, including the timeline for withdrawing nominations and allocating election symbols.

The postponement of the polls and, subsequently, the vote counting drew widespread criticism from leaders across the political spectrum. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters that he had never seen polling deferred a day before voting. Calling it a “systemic failure”, he urged the authorities to take steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.

“The ruling of the high court bench will have to be accepted by everybody, but the mess created by the State Election Commission is unprecedented. I have never witnessed this in my 30-plus years of political life. The bench and the SEC are autonomous, but we have been disillusioned by the failure of the system. The elections are being postponed, and the results are being postponed, leading to massive confusion. It is not acceptable. The SEC needs to correct its act as it has to conduct many more elections in the near future,” he said.

Fadnavis believes the postponement of the elections was due to a misinterpretation of the law governing the conduct of the elections. “I do not know who the SEC is consulting, but everybody, including legal experts, has said the postponement of the elections was uncalled for. I have no personal grudge against the poll body, but I am upset because the legal norms are not being followed,” he added.

BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule also blamed the SEC’s misinterpretation of the law for the postponement. “99% of the rulings of the district courts had come before the deadline of November 25, despite which the elections were postponed just one day before the polling date… Whatever decision is given by the high court will have to be followed, but the order is owing to the mistakes committed by the poll body. The SEC misinterpreted the law and postponed the elections. Leaders and even candidates across party lines are outraged as everybody wanted the results to be announced immediately on Wednesday,” he said.

Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar also criticised the postponement, alleging government influence over the SEC and misinterpretation of a Supreme Court order regarding reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). He urged accountability and reform to ensure the safeguarding of future elections.

“The order issued by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has completely derailed the entire election process. This is nothing short of an outright mockery. The state government and the Election Commission must bear responsibility for this situation. The Supreme Court’s order was misinterpreted and misrepresented. There was an attempt to suggest that a 27% reservation was granted to the OBCs. What direction is this government even heading in?” he said.