The Supreme Court has once more deferred the hearing of petitions concerning Maharashtra’s pending local body elections, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. The next hearing is scheduled for March 4. Election Commission officials indicate that, following the court’s decision, a minimum of 90 days will be required to prepare for the elections. This timeline raises doubts about conducting the BMC elections before the onset of the monsoon season.
Petitioners, including Pawan Shinde, have approached the Supreme Court seeking immediate local body elections with Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations. The matter was listed before a bench comprising Justice Suryakant and Justice N.K. Singh on February 25. However, the case was not heard during the morning session, and the bench was unavailable in the afternoon. Advocate Devdutt Palodkar, representing the petitioners, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the state government, urged the Supreme Court for an expedited hearing, highlighting that elections are on hold due to the court’s stay order.
