The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered that results of all municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra be withheld until 21 December, delaying the counting that was scheduled to take place tomorrow. The court has also barred the publication of exit polls until the entire polling process is completed.
During a hearing earlier in the day, the High Court directed that counting for every civic body election be carried out on the same day later this month. Until then, the Model Code of Conduct will continue to remain in force.
However, the court clarified that today’s voting will proceed as scheduled and will not be impacted by the order.
The State Election Commission had announced elections to 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats on 4 November 2025. A number of candidates subsequently approached district courts challenging decisions taken by returning officers. Because judgments in 24 such cases were delivered only on or after 23 November, elections for presidents and members of those 24 bodies were postponed.
Petitioners argued before the High Court that announcing results in phases could influence voting in the civic bodies where polls were yet to take place. Accepting this contention, the court ruled that the results for all 288 bodies must be declared on a single day, 21 December. Exit polls may be published only after voting concludes on 20 December and after a mandatory 30-minute cooling period.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed strong dissatisfaction over the delay, calling it a failure of the electoral system. “The elections were announced and are now being pushed forward. Even the results are being postponed. This is a failure of the system. The Election Commission must improve its procedures,” he said. “I’ve never seen an election conducted like this. Postponing counting doesn’t make sense,” he added.
