Nagpur/Mumbai, Dec 2 (IANS) The declaration of results for the Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat elections in Maharashtra has been pushed back, with the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday issuing a directive that mandates a unified counting day for all poll-bound bodies on December 21.

The order nullifies the State Election Commission’s (SEC) original plan to conduct vote counting and announce results this Wednesday, meaning elections that were held on Tuesday will have their Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) secured for nearly three extra weeks.

The High Court’s decision to consolidate the results is rooted in procedural and legal concerns surrounding postponed elections.

The SEC had initially on November 4 announced general elections for 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayats. However, due to District Courts delivering verdicts on candidate nomination appeals on or after the SEC’s deadline of November, elections for the President and Member posts in approximately 24 Nagar Parishads and for 154 posts in other 76 Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayats were postponed to December 20.

However, the SEC’s move was challenged through a slew of petitions in the High Court.

The petitioners argued that announcing results for one set of elections before the postponed polls on December 20 would improperly influence voter sentiment, necessitating a common declaration date.

After hearing these petitions, the High Court ruled that all Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat election results, including those that voted today, must be declared on December 21.

Exit Polls are permitted to be announced half an hour after the voting concludes on December 20.

The Model Code of Conduct will remain in effect until the declaration of results on December 21.

Candidates in the postponed elections will retain their original election symbols. The court, however, rejected the candidates’ demand to increase the expenditure limit due to the extension of the election period.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly expressed his “extreme displeasure” with the procedural chaos, calling the situation an unprecedented setback.

“Elections that were announced are being postponed, and their results are being pushed back. This is happening for the very first time. This is a failure of the system,” he stated.

“The Election Commission must reform its process. I am seeing such an election for the first time. Postponing the vote counting is something I personally do not agree with.”

He clarified that his criticism was aimed at the process itself, not the Election Commission.

The three-week delay in vote counting is expected to place a significant operational and financial burden on the state administration and law enforcement agencies.

Administrative bodies will have to keep the strongrooms and counting centres — totaling nearly 280 locations across the state — reserved until December 21 to secure the EVMs.

Maintaining police security for the EVMs at these locations for an extended three-week period will strain resources. Election officers and staff are also required to perform mandatory daily inspections and sign records in the strongrooms until the counting date.

Reacting to the High Court’s order, the Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar claimed that the elections have been disrupted, and the polls in the state have turned into child’s play.

“The state government and the Election Commission are responsible for this, as the Supreme Court’s verdict has been misinterpreted. The government wanted to show that it has given 27 per cent reservation to OBCs — what direction is this government working in?

“Tomorrow’s vote counting has been postponed to December 21. The Fadnavis government is responsible for this; creating obstacles in the vote counting means delaying the elections, using money — in fact, isn’t this a form of vote theft?

“Seeing that the results won’t be in its favour, is it trying to manipulate the election results? Democracy is being strangled,” he stated.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) slammed the SEC for abruptly postponing elections before voting was scheduled to begin in 24 Nagar Parishads and 154 wards in other 76 Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayats to December 20, saying that the move is a calculated political manoeuvre.

In a particularly harsh critique, the Thackeray camp in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial labelled the SEC a “joker” in the political game, asserting that the government, and “especially the BJP, has made the Election Commission its joker”.

“Furthermore, it has been a planned mess and chaos, with the sole objective being to ensure a benefit for the BJP,” the editorial said.

–IANS

sj/rad