SC asks Maha SEC to hold elections, says results will depend on verdict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Maharashtra government and its state election commission to conduct local body elections and made it

clear that poll results of all bodies, including where 50 per cent ceiling on quota have been breached, will depend on its verdict.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also said that as many as 27 pleas concerning OBC reservation in local bodies will be taken up for final hearing by a three-judge bench on January 21, 2026.

In May 2025, the bench had directed the Maharashtra government and the SEC to conduct the long-pending elections within

four months, and to grant OBC reservation based on the legal framework that existed prior to the Banthia Commission report.

At the outset, senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the state election commission (SEC), said that 50 per cent ceiling on quota has been breached only in 40 municipal councils and 17 nagar panchayats.

He said there are a total 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats where the poll process has begun and there are “only 40 municipal councils, out of 246, where reservation is exceeding 50 per cent and similarly, there are 17, out of 42 Nagar Panchayats, where this ceiling is breached”.

Taking the statement into consideration, the bench said the SEC can proceed with the election but the results will be dependent on the final outcome of the case.

The bench also said the state poll panel may proceed with the elections for other zila parishad, Panchayat samiti and nagar parishad,

where the issue of breach of 50 per cent quota is not there. However, the results of these local bodies will also depend on the final verdict in the case, the bench said.