Mumbai: The State Election Commission (SEC) has postponed the polling and counting dates for the general elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis following the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and the declaration of three days of state mourning.As per the revised schedule, polling, earlier scheduled for February 5, 2026, will now be held on February 7, 2026, while counting of votes, earlier fixed for February 7, 2026, will take place on February 9, 2026.
The State Election Commission had announced the election programme for these Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis on January 13, 2026. Accordingly, all preliminary stages of the election process — including filing of nominations, withdrawal of nominations, allotment of election symbols, and publication of the final list of contesting candidates — have already been completed. The remaining stages include polling, counting of votes, and publication of the names of elected members in the government gazette.
The Supreme Court had granted only a two-week extension beyond January 31, 2026, to complete the election process. However, following the accidental death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28, 2026, the state government declared state mourning from January 28 to January 30, 2026. Taking this period into consideration, the SEC decided to revise the remaining stages of the election schedule.
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According to the revised programme, concerned district collectors will publish the updated election schedule on January 31, 2026. Polling will be conducted on February 7, 2026, from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm. Consequently, the deadline for election campaigning will end at 10 pm on February 5, 2026.
Counting of votes will commence at 10 am on February 9, 2026, at the designated counting centres. After the declaration of results, the Model Code of Conduct will cease to be in force in the respective areas. The names of the elected members will be published in the Official Government Gazette by February 11, 2026, the SEC said.
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