Voting begins in 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Voting was underway on Tuesday across 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the first phase of the local body elections in Maharashtra, where 6,042 seats and 264 posts of council presidents are up for grabs.

The polling began at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. Votes will be counted on December 3, officials said.

Nearly one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first round of the multi-tier rural and urban local bodies elections, which, as per the Supreme Court’s directives, are to be concluded by January 31, 2026.

Polling is being held for 264 posts of the municipal council presidents and 6,042 seats across councils and nagar panchayats.

According to officials, 12,316 polling stations have been set up, and 62,108 polling personnel have been deployed across the state.

Security arrangements are in place to ensure peaceful polling.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has arranged an adequate number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), 17,367 control units, and 34,734 ballot units, officials added.

The poll battle has become multi-dimensional with the BJP-led Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) locking horns, interspersed by "friendly fights" among the alliances and subtle bids for one-upmanship between the BJP and Shiv Sena.

The electoral process for 288 local bodies (nagar panchayats and municipal councils) announced on November 4 has been marked by legal tangles and squabbling among allies in both camps.

The SEC has deferred polling in 24 local bodies to December 20 in view of judicial appeals filed against the decisions of Returning Officers following the scrutiny of nomination papers.

Separately, due to ongoing court cases, elections for 154 seats across 76 municipal councils and nagar panchayats have been rescheduled to December 20.

The local body polls are being viewed as a major indicator of political sentiment in Maharashtra, a year after the BJP-led Mahayuti won 235 out of the 288 seats in the state assembly elections.

These polls have already witnessed significant political manoeuvring, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party facing off against the Opposition MVA of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) and Congress.

While the Opposition focused its campaign on local leadership, the BJP stole a march over other parties by ensuring unopposed victories in 100 councillor seats and three municipal president positions.

The EC introduced a verification system marking suspected duplicate voters with double stars on lists, requiring strict identity checks at polling stations. It also launched a mobile application providing information about candidates and voters, including affidavits of candidates.

The local body elections are being conducted under a Supreme Court directive to complete pending polls by January 31, 2026. The schedules for 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, 32 Zilla Parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis, are yet to be announced.