In an important development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Maharashtra government to hold the local body elections without any further delay. The local body polls have been on hold for almost two years due to discussions over OBC reservations. The Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to announce the election dates within four weeks and to complete the entire election process within four months.
The bench said that the elections should follow the OBC reservation system that was in place before the Banthia Commission’s report from July 2022. The Court also made it clear that this is only a temporary order and the final decision will depend on the outcome of the ongoing legal cases questioning the Banthia Commission’s report. This order will not affect any party’s arguments in those cases.
(This is a developing story.)