When asked about the bench's order to postpone vote counting, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, "It is better if I don't say anything about the Election Commission and the court".
Opposition parties in Maharashtra like the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena criticised the Bombay High Court's order to postpone the counting of votes cast during local civic body elections, from December 3 to December 21, 2025.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC issued the order on Tuesday when polling was underway for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state, days after the Maharashtra State Election Commission rescheduled elections in 24 local bodies on December 20.
Advertisement
When asked about the bench's order to postpone vote counting, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, "It is better if I don't say anything about the Election Commission and the court".
Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Vijay Vadettiwar sharply criticised the government and the Election Commission. He called the order postponing the counting to December 21 "throttling of democracy".
Wadettiwar said the high court order is an "election game" for which both the Fadnavis government and the Election Commission are responsible. "The Election Commission has become a puppet in the hands of the government. It is clear that it is being done at their behest. So many elections have been held in the state, but such a thing has never happened," lamented the Congress leader, accusing the state government of interfering in the election process.
"Isn't obstructing the counting of votes an attempt to delay the elections? Isn't it a form of vote-stealing using money? Is the government taking this step to overturn the results when it is clear that the results will not be in its favour," he asked.
The Nagpur bench's order also led Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to tell media persons, "It is really surprising. In my 25-year political career, I have never seen anything like this happen in local body elections. Since the decision came from the court, we cannot comment. Everybody has to accept and adhere to the court's decision."
Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, "I have been saying that the Maharashtra State Election Commission is misinterpreting laws and postponing elections without any basis. There were no demands to postpone elections from any part of the state, and despite this, the Maharashtra SEC delayed the polls, resulting in the high court's intervention".
"For the first time in the history of the SEC, elections and counting have been held in such a manner. Such decisions are unacceptable. Leaders across parties are outraged," Bawankule said, claiming that the Maharashtra SEC failed to hold any all-party meetings and is creating problems for voters.