First phase of polls begins across 264 councils and nagar panchayats

Voting was underway on Tuesday across 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the first phase of Maharashtrarsquos local body elections with 6042 seats and 264 posts of council presidents up for grabsPolling began at 730 am and will continue until 530 pm with vote counting scheduled for December 3 officials said reported news agency PTINearly one crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the first round of the multitier rural and urban local body elections which according to Supreme Court directives must be completed by January 31 2026A total of 12316 polling stations have been set up across the state and 62108 polling personnel have been deployed to manage the process Security arrangements have also been put in place to ensure peaceful pollingThe State Election Commission SEC has arranged an adequate number of Electronic Voting Machines EVMs 17367 control units and 34734 ballot units officials added reported PTIThe poll battle has become multidimensional with the BJPled Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA locking horns interspersed by friendly fights among the alliances and subtle bids for oneupmanship between the BJP and Shiv SenaThe electoral process for 288 local bodies nagar panchayats and municipal councils announced on November 4 has been marked by legal tangles and squabbling among allies in both campsThe SEC has deferred polling in 24 local bodies to December 20 in view of judicial appeals filed against the decisions of the Returning Officers following the scrutiny of nomination papersSeparately due to ongoing court cases elections for 154 seats across 76 municipal councils and nagar panchayats have been rescheduled to December 20The local body polls are being viewed as a major indicator of political sentiment in Maharashtra a year after the BJPled Mahayuti won 235 out of the 288 seats in the state assembly electionsThese polls have already witnessed significant political manoeuvring with the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawars Nationalist Congress Party facing off against the Opposition MVA of the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBT Sharad Pawars NCP SP and CongressAccording to PTI while the Opposition focused its campaign on local leadership the BJP stole a march over other parties by ensuring unopposed victories in 100 councillor seats and three municipal president positionsThe EC introduced a verification system marking suspected duplicate voters with double stars on lists requiring strict identity checks at polling stations It also launched a mobile application providing information about candidates and voters including affidavits of candidatesThe local body elections are being conducted under a Supreme Court directive to complete pending polls by January 31 2026 The schedules for 29 municipal corporations including Mumbai 32 Zilla Parishads and 336 panchayat samitis are yet to be announcedWith PTI inputs