The Supreme Court of India on Friday reiterated that all Maharashtra local body elections, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, must be held before January 31, 2026.
During the hearing at the Supreme Court on Friday, the petition alleged breach of OBC reservation norms in municipal council polls. However, the Supreme Court made it clear that there will be no stay on any election process.
The decision by the Supreme Court effectively means all civic polls will proceed as per the schedule, regardless of ongoing legal challenges.
The ruling reinforces the court’s firm stance on timely local body elections across Maharashtra and adherence to constitutional mandates on representation.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) earlier a few days ago had issued a notification extending deadlines for preparing voter lists in 29 municipal corporations across the state.
The notification that was released on Wednesday by the State Election Commission revises timelines for key stages of finalising draft electoral rolls.
The original schedule, as per the State Election Commission, set between November 13 and December 12, 2025, has been extended to allow additional time for voter verification and publication. The revised deadlines set up by the SEC were as follows:
Submission of objections and corrections on draft voter lists: Extended from November 27 to December 3, 2025.
Processing objections and publishing final voter lists: Extended from December 5 to December 10, 2025.
Publishing voter lists at polling stations: Extended from December 8 to December 15, 2025.
Final publication of voter lists at polling stations: Extended from December 12 to December 22, 2025.
Moreover, the extension provides an additional 10 days.
Earlier, the SEC had also hinted at extending the process for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. “The commission is contemplating giving a few extra days to finalise the draft rolls,” a senior SEC official said. The draft voter list for BMC elections was released on November 20, with the original last date for objections set for November 27 and finalisation scheduled for December 5. Opposition parties had demanded a 21-day extension, citing errors in the draft list, but officials indicated that a 7–10-day extension would suffice.
According to current electoral rolls, Mumbai has around 1.03 crore registered voters, with roughly 11 lakh duplicate entries, including 4.3 lakh multiple registrations. Both the SEC and BMC have acknowledged these errors and agreed to the extension, while assuring that polls will be conducted on schedule.
