SC restrains Maharashtra SEC from exceeding 50 pc reservation in local body polls
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) from notifying reservations beyond 50 per cent in local bodies where elections are yet to be announced.
While allowing the already-notified polls to proceed as scheduled, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the results in local bodies where the quota exceeds the 50 per cent ceiling will remain subject to the outcome of the petitions challenging OBC reservation in Maharashtra.
“The elections of municipal councils and nagar panchayats may take place as per the notified schedule. However, the results of local bodies where reservation exceeds 50 per cent will be subject to the result of the writ petition,” the CJI Surya Kant-led Bench ordered.
Directing the SEC to notify elections to zila parishads, municipal corporations, and panchayat samitis, the apex court added: “So far as other bodies, the state government and the SEC will be at liberty to initiate the election process. However, it is directed that reservation in all these institutions shall not exceed 50 per cent. This condition is also subject to the final outcome of the present proceedings.”
The bench referred the matter to a three-judge Bench and posted it for hearing on January 21.
After senior advocate Vikas Singh urged the court to issue a positive direction to ensure elections are not stalled further, the Bench ordered: “In Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis, wherever reservation does not exceed 50 per cent, let the elections be held in terms of the previous directions.”
Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the SEC, informed the top court that elections to 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats have already been notified for December 2, and that in 57 local bodies going to polls, the reservation limit of 50 per cent has been crossed.
In May this year, the Supreme Court had directed that local body elections be completed within four months, with OBC reservation restored in accordance with the pre-2022 J.K. Banthia Commission legal framework. It clarified that the polls shall be subject to the outcome of the petitions challenging the recommendations of the Banthia commission.
In a subsequent hearing held on September 16, the apex court pulled up the state authorities for failing to comply with its earlier direction to complete the election process by August this year, and again ordered the SEC to conduct local body polls in the state by January 31, 2026.
The apex court directed that the delimitation exercise be completed by October 31, adding that any delay in delimitation will not be a ground to defer the local body elections.