Results Of Local Body Elections Held On December 2 & 20 Must Be Declared Together; Not In Phases : Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday deferred the declaration of results for the Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats from December 3, 2025 till December 21, 2025.A division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas sitting at Nagpur seat, made it clear that the results for polls to be held on December 2 and December 20, need to be declared together on December 21 itself and not in a "phased" manner. Notably, the State Election Commission (SEC) had initially declared that it would be conducting elections to Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats, in a phased manner, on December 2 and December 20. It had further decided to declare results for the elections to be held on December 2, on December 3. Further, for elections to be held on December 20, the results were supposed to be declared on December 21. Challenging the same, Indian National Congress (INC) leader Shakil Hamid Mansuri had petitioner the bench arguing that the declaration of results in phased manner would affect the results of elections to be held on December 20. Taking note of the arguments, the judges in their order, said, "We are of the opinion that if the results of the polls to be held on December 2 are declared on December 3, it may materially affect the results of the polls to be held on December 20 and in that case, it cannot be said that the elections to be held on December 20 are held in fair and transparent manner."The judges noted that the elections of all Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats are going to be held together throughout Maharashtra. "If the public mood is disclosed by declaring the result on December 3 of the polls to be held on December 2, it may materially affect the result of the polls to be held on December 20. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the decision of the State Election Commission to declare the results in two phases i.e. on December 3 of the polls to be held on December 2 and on December 21 of the polls to be held on December 20, is not just and proper and needs to be interfered with for fair and transparent election," the judges held. Furthermore, for the same reason the bench opined that exit poll shall not be published or publicised during this period. With these observations, the bench adjourned the hearing till December 10. Appearance: Advocates HS Chitaley, Vedant Pandey, Abhinav Saxena, AM Quazi, M Anilkumar, Yash Kullarwar and Disha Kamwani appeared for Petitioners. Advocate AM Kukday represented the State Election Commission. Assistant Government Pleader KP Marpakwar represented the State. Case Title: Shakil Hamid Mansuri vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 7508 of 2025) Click Here To Read/Download Order

Results Of Local Body Elections Held On December 2 & 20 Must Be Declared Together; Not In Phases : Bombay High Court

Narsi Benwal

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