Maharashtra DyCM Eknath Shinde, CM Fadnavis call for local body polls to stay focused on grassroots issues, party workers

Aurangabad (Maharashtra) [India], December 1 (ANI): Amid the tussle between parties over local body elections in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis emphasised that the polls should remain focused on local issues and party workers.

Shinde said that local body elections should remain focused on grassroots issues and the work of party workers.

Speaking to the reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Eknath Shinde said, "Did I make allegations against CM? Or did he make allegations against me? Yes, it’s true that these elections are local elections, which are fought on very local issues and are fought by the local party workers. Big political issues are not needed to be brought in these local body elections. But party workers like to see their senior leadership come and join them in these election campaigns..."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the local body elections are driven by party workers, stressing that he has avoided making comments against opponents or allies and has focused only on campaigning for his party’s candidates.

"These are local body elections in which workers of our party contest these elections and we try to reach to all parts of the state where the elections are being held to campaign and support our workers during our elections. The same workers do very hard work in our campaigning, so it’s our responsibility also to come and campaign for them in their elections and it is done by everyone,” Fadnavis told reporters.

“These were the elections where I had not made any comment on. Even my opponents. Let alone the issue of commenting on our allies. Today is the last day of the campaign for the elections, but I have not made any comments against anyone. I only campaign in support of candidates of our party,” he said.

Today, 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, 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. (ANI)