A combined hearing before a bench headed by the Chief Justice is underway on various petitions from across Maharashtra related to local body elections. On Monday, the court dismissed several petitions concerning candidature and heard others challenging decisions made by Election Officers on filing or rejecting nomination papers. Some petitioners had also challenged the District Court’s rulings in this regard. While a few petitions were dismissed based on a full-bench decision, six were withdrawn.
The State Election Commission (SEC), represented by lawyers Sachindra Shetye and Abhijit Kulkarni, has filed petitions against the District Court’s decision granting relief to three Baramati candidates to file nomination papers. During a brief hearing, the SEC argued that these candidates had not appeared before the election officials to submit their nominations, raising doubts about the District Court’s jurisdiction to grant such relief. Lawyer Abhijit Desai, appearing for one petitioner, claimed that two of the candidates had completed their applications online; however, the court noted that this was not mentioned in the petition. The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday to allow the filing of an affidavit on this point.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Kolhapur benches had earlier granted an interim stay on the counting and results of the elections held on December 2 for 264 Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayats. The Chief Justice expressed displeasure on Friday that neither the state government nor the SEC’s lawyers had informed his bench about these pending petitions or the December 2 hearings. He also reiterated that all petitions concerning issues related to local self-government bodies would be heard by the bench headed by him. These petitions are scheduled for hearing on December 22.
Separately, the court will hear petitions related to the ward structures of the Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, and Nashik Municipal Corporations on Tuesday.
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