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The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has postponed elections in several municipal councils across Pune district after district court orders on key appeals were delivered later than the Commission's stipulated deadline. The revised polling date for the affected councils and wards has now been set for December 20, 2025, officials said.
According to a press note issued by the Pune District Administration, the SEC had earlier directed that municipal council and nagar panchayat elections must not proceed where appeals related to membership disqualification or reservation disputes were still pending before district courts. The Commission had mandated that courts must deliver their rulings by November 22, 2025, for elections to continue as originally scheduled. However, appeals related to the President's post for the Baramati Municipal Council and the Fursungi-Uruli Devachi Municipal Council were decided by the District Court only on November 26, 2025, four days after the SEC's cutoff date. In addition, orders related to member seats in both councils were also issued after November 22. Citing these delays, the SEC ordered that the entire general elections for both councils, covering President and member seats, be postponed. Voting for these bodies will now take place on December 20. Further, the SEC noted that similar delays occurred in appeals concerning member seats in Talegaon Dabhade, Lonavala, Daund, and Saswad municipal councils. In all these cases, court decisions were issued after the cut-off date, compelling the Commission to reschedule elections for the affected wards. The district administration also clarified that no fresh nominations will be accepted for these elections. Only withdrawals of existing nominations are allowed, with December 10, 2025 (3:00 PM) as the final deadline for withdrawal. The State Election Commission will issue and publish the revised election programme for all affected councils in newspapers. The district administration said the schedule will be widely circulated locally to ensure voters and candidates are adequately informed. District Collector Jitendra Dudi urged citizens to take note of the changes, stating that the Commission's guidelines mandated the postponements after judicial decisions crossed the official cutoff dates. (ANI)
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