A representative image of a person casting vote.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Amid charges of vote-chori and discrepancies in voters’ list by the opposition parties and allegations of vote-jihad by the BJP-led ruling alliance, the State Election Commission on Tuesday set the ball rolling for the much-awaited local bodies elections in Maharashtra by announcing the poll schedule for 288 nagar parishads (municipal councils) and nagar panchayats (town panchayats).
Over one crore of the state’s population will vote for this crucial election — 246 nagar parishads and 42 nagar panchayats — spread across the five geographical regions of Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
The voting is scheduled on 2 December, 2025.
Counting of votes would be taken up on 3 December, 2025.
The Supreme Court has directed the process of local bodies polls in Maharashtra to be completed by 31 January 2026.
The elections to 29 municipal corporations besides the 32 zilla parishads and 336 panchayat samities will be announced later.
The local bodies polls are very crucial for the ruling BJP-led Maha Yuti which also comprises Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi which constitutes of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), Left parties like CPI, CPI (M) and PWP. Besides, Raj Thackeray-led MNS too will be a significant player, though, he is not yet formally the part of MVA.
The local polls would be a sort of litmus test for the two sides as in 2024 Maharashtra witnessed diametrically opposite results in the Lok Sabha and the subsequent Vidhan Sabha polls.
The schedule was announced by State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare, who was accompanied by SEC’s Member-Secretary Suresh Kakani.
“Voting will be held to elect 6,859 members and 288 presidents in the nagar panchayats and nagar parishads,” Waghmare said.
Polling will be held using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), he added.
To prevent duplicate voting, a verification system has been introduced. “When a voter arrives at the polling station, a double star mark will be displayed for certain entries, informing polling officials to verify the identity of the voter. Such voters will be required to sign a declaration to confirm that they are not voting elsewhere,” the SEC said.
The expenditure limit for candidates will be 15 lakh rupees for the president post and 12 lakh rupees for member posts.
Asked about the delegations of opposition parties that met him on problems in the voter’s list, Waghmare said said that the SEC receives the list from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
However, he added that the SEC is actively taking action to rectify errors like duplicate entries and clerical mistakes. “We will ensure an accurate final voters list,” said Waghmare.
Polls at a glance
Total local bodies going to polls: 288
Nagar Parishad (Municipal Council): 246
Nagar Panchayat (Town Council): 42
Total electors: 1,07,03,576
(Males - 53,79,93, Females - 53,22,870, Others - 775)
Total polling stations: 13,355
Date of polling: 2 December, 2025
Date of counting: 3 December, 2025