The Supreme Court has resolved the uncertainty surrounding December's civic elections in Maharashtra, giving the green light for polls to proceed while imposing crucial conditions on local bodies that have breached the 50% reservation ceiling.
Court's Conditional Approval for December Elections
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ruled on Friday that the State Election Commission can conduct elections to all municipal councils and nagar panchayats scheduled for December 2. However, the court made a significant exception for 40 municipal councils and 17 nagar panchayats that have exceeded the legally mandated reservation limit.
"While voting may go ahead, the results of these 57 local bodies will be subject to the final outcome of these proceedings," the bench explicitly stated, ensuring that the election process moves forward without compromising legal standards.
Widespread Impact Across Multiple Civic Bodies
The Supreme Court noted that the election process had already begun in 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats across Maharashtra. The decision came after considering a report submitted by the SEC's senior counsel, Balbir Singh, which revealed that only a limited number of constituencies had crossed the reservation cap.
In a broader context, the court acknowledged that elections have not yet commenced for several other significant civic bodies, including:
- 29 municipal corporations
- 32 Zila Parishads (ZPs)
- 336 panchayat samitis
The bench was informed that only two municipal corporations had exceeded the 50% reservation ceiling. Taking swift action, the judges directed: "The elections to municipal corporations be notified without delay and conducted at the earliest." Similar to the earlier ruling, results in the two over-quota corporations would remain conditional until the court's final determination.
Long-Standing Legal Battle Over OBC Quotas
The current dispute originates from the stalled OBC reservation regime in local bodies, which has been frozen since 2021. The Supreme Court initially suspended OBC quotas in December 2021, pending compliance with the 'triple-test' requirements.
This prompted the Maharashtra government to form the Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission in March 2022, which submitted its report in July 2022. In a significant development in May 2025, the court ordered that elections be conducted with OBC quotas based on the law prevailing before the Banthia report.
However, the bench clarified last week that this permission did not allow quotas to exceed the 50% ceiling. "Whatever we do, we should not divide the society on caste lines," the bench orally remarked, cautioning against misinterpreting its earlier order.
Conflicting Legal Arguments and Future Proceedings
The petitioners, represented by senior counsel Vikas Singh, argued that the total reservation, including OBC quotas, cannot cross the 50% ceiling. They maintained that in local bodies where SC and ST population exceeds the ceiling, their proportionate reservation may legally go beyond that mark, but in such cases, no quota can be allotted to OBCs.
Senior counsel Indira Jaising opposed this interpretation, arguing that such an approach would deprive backward classes of reservation and effectively eliminate their representation in civic bodies.
The court has set a clear timeline for resolving this complex legal matter, scheduling the final hearing on the legality of Maharashtra's OBC quota matrix for January 21, 2026. All parties have been instructed to complete pleadings and prepare arguments by January 9, 2026.
To ensure smooth coordination, the bench appointed advocates Amol Karande and Siddharth Dharmadhikari as nodal counsel responsible for managing documentation from both sides. The Maharashtra State Election Commission has indicated it will soon announce dates for the pending categories of elections.
