The State Election Commission (SEC) of Maharashtra is in a race against time, preparing to announce elections for 12 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) and 125 Panchayat Samitis early next week. This move aims to adhere to the Supreme Court's directive to complete all pending local body polls by January 31.
Logistical Hurdles and Manpower Strain
Even with an imminent announcement, the mandatory 21-day election process means polling will inevitably spill into the first week of February. This extension poses significant challenges for election authorities. A senior SEC official highlighted the pressure on manpower deployment and logistical planning due to this compressed timeline.
The scale of the exercise is vast. Elections across the 12 districts will require approximately 26,000 polling stations and the deployment of nearly 75,000 personnel, predominantly drawn from the teaching cadre. Officials admit that manpower planning is already under severe strain. This is due to overlapping administrative duties and a rapid succession of elections, including the recently concluded polls for 263 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats.
Back-to-Back Elections Create Operational Squeeze
The pressure is compounded by the ongoing cycle of urban local body elections. Polls for 29 municipal corporations were announced on December 15, with voting on January 15 and counting the next day. Crucially, the same Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) must be repurposed for the rural local body polls immediately afterward.
This leaves a critically narrow window for election staff to retrieve memory cards, reconfigure the machines, and redeploy them. An election official pointed out the operational strain, stating, "There is virtually no breathing space between the two exercises. Machines will have to be readied almost immediately after corporation polls."
Teachers Bear the Brunt of Election Duty
Working teachers, who form the backbone of election staff, express deep concern over the potential spillover into early February. A senior teacher told TOI that while they cannot refuse election duty, managing both teaching responsibilities and a four-day election commitment—covering training, polling, and counting—would be immensely stressful.
In a related development, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare has directed strict action against officers skipping mandatory training for the municipal corporation polls. He emphasized that trained manpower is non-negotiable for smooth elections. SEC Secretary Suresh Kakani confirmed that election campaigning will end at 5:30 PM on January 13, 2026.
Reservation Issue Holds Back Remaining Polls
The SEC is proceeding cautiously, planning to announce elections only for those ZPs where reservations do not breach the 50% ceiling, as per Supreme Court orders. Across Maharashtra, elections are pending for a total of 32 ZPs and 336 Panchayat Samitis. However, polls for 20 ZPs and 211 Panchayat Samitis remain on hold until the court resolves the reservation issue, with a hearing scheduled for January 21.
The 12 ZPs likely to go to polls soon are:
- Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur (Pune division)
- Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg (Konkan division)
- Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, Latur (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division)
