Maharashtra Gets New Election Chief, Set for Local Body Polls Soon

Mumbai, Maharashtra:  In a significant step towards the much-awaited local body elections, the Maharashtra government appointed Dinesh Waghmare as the new state election commissioner (SEC) on Monday. The senior bureaucrat, a 1994-batch IAS officer, was serving as the additional chief secretary of the medical education department. With a tenure of five years, Waghmare's appointment signals the commencement of preparations for local body polls in the state, which are overdue for election.

The state election commission is responsible for overseeing the elections for civic bodies, zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, and gram panchayats. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, originally scheduled for February 2022, had been postponed due to pending Supreme Court cases regarding other backward class (OBC) reservations and the reorganization of wards. The apex court will hold its next hearing on January 28.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated that elections might take place in April or May, once the legal matters are resolved. Local body elections often serve as a testing ground for political parties, with many choosing to contest independently, instead of forming alliances with national-level parties.