We won’t declare winners till inquiry reports are submitted, says Maharashtra State Election Commission

Maharashtra State Election Commission has ordered a probe into reports of unopposed elections of candidates in the State for the municipal corporation elections to be held on January 15. “We have asked all the local authorities to submit a report to us. This is a part of routine process whenever other candidates withdraw nominations and only one candidate remains in the fray,” an official of the State Election Commission told The Hindu. He said that the SEC will check if the nominations were withdrawn under duress, due to any pressure or due to any allurement.

Hinting that results in such wards might be delayed, the official said there was no time stipulation for the submission of reports from there. The elections are to be held on January 15. The results will be declared on January 16. “There is no deadline. The report can be submitted after January 16 too. We will not declare the official results till these reports are submitted to us,” he said.

Several candidates withdrew their nominations on the last day of withdrawal of nominations on Friday (January 2, 2026), thereby leading to a situation where only one candidate remained in the fray. Though official figure of such victories is not yet known, media reports have pegged the figure at over 60.

“We do not yet have the official figure as the returning officers or commissioners have not yet submitted their final report to us. We will come to know how many such cases have happened, only once we get the reports from the local level,” an official of the State Election Commission told The Hindu on Saturday (January 3, 2026) morning.

Withdrawals under duress?

While videos of calls by prominent leaders to their own winning candidates did rounds on social media and on news channels, the State Election Commission has said that it is part of normal procedure to recheck the situation at such wards. Withdrawal of nominations by all other candidates except one needed deeper scrutiny on whether any other factors were at play, officials said. The opposition has slammed the State Election Commission, claiming that their candidates were pressurised to withdraw nominations. Yashwant Jadhav, an MNS leader, claimed to the media that his party’s candidate was offered Rs 5 Crore. A BJP leader has denied these allegations.

Elections to 893 wards from 29 municipal corporations will be held on January 15 in Maharashtra. For 2,869 seats, 33,606 candidates had filed their nominations, as per the State Election Commission. The final figure of nominations is not yet known as the last day for the withdrawal of nominations was January 2.