Mumbai, Jan 12 (IANS) Even as the fervour for Municipal Corporation elections sweeps Maharashtra, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) is likely to announce a schedule for elections to the 12 zilla parishads and 125 panchayat samitis on Tuesday.

As the state board examinations for Class 12 are starting from February 10, the voting for these local bodies is expected to take place on February 5, SEC sources said on Monday.

The SEC’s move comes after the Supreme Court on Monday admitted the SEC’s plea seeking extension for holding these elections beyond the January 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court (SC).

The SEC had sought the extension up to February 10 but the SC extended it to February 15 asking the state poll panel to complete the polls to the 12 zilla parishads and 125 panchayat samitis before that.

While the state is currently in the thick of municipal election campaigning — with only voting and counting remaining — the SEC has finalised its preparations for zilla parishads and panchayat samitis.

In the first phase, the Commission plans to hold elections for 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 panchayat samitis where the 50 per cent reservation limit has not been breached.

At present, elections for 32 Zilla Parishads and 336 Panchayat Samitis remain pending across Maharashtra. Of these, 20 zilla parishads and 211 panchayat samitis exceed the 50 per cent reservation limit and their elections will take place depending on the apex court’s order.

Consequently, the SEC has prioritised the 12 districts and 125 panchayat samitis that fall within the permissible legal reservation limits.

The revenue division-wise districts where the elections will take place are Pune Division: Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, and Kolhapur; Konkan Division: Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg; and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Division: Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, and Latur.

The primary reason for the delay has been the legal battle over OBC (Other Backward Classes) quotas.

In 2021, the Supreme Court struck down the 27 per cent OBC reservation in local bodies because it pushed the total reservation beyond the 50 per cent ceiling set by the Indra Sawhney judgment.

The court mandated a “triple test” (setting up a commission, collecting empirical data, and ensuring reservations don’t exceed 50 per cent total) before the quota could be restored. This led to a long-drawn process of data collection and legal challenges.

These elections are often called “Mini Assemblies” because they reflect the ground-level pulse of rural and semi-urban voters.

For the major alliances in Maharashtra, these results are crucial for momentum heading into state-level contests.

–IANS

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