The Maharashtra State Election Commission has announced polling dates for rural local body elections in parts of the state. Elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis will be held on February 7 in districts where caste-based reservations remain within the 50 per cent cap.
The decision comes soon after the completion of municipal corporation and municipal council elections across Maharashtra, marking the next phase of the state’s local body polls.
Polling will take place from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. The counting of votes is scheduled for February 9.
The elections were originally planned for February 5, with results to be declared on February 7. However, the process was deferred following the sudden death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash, prompting the authorities to reschedule the exercise.
Polling will be conducted in 12 districts spread across three administrative divisions — Konkan, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The districts where voting will take place include Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in the Konkan division; Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur in the Pune division; and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv and Latur in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division.
About Dharashiv (Osmanabad) district
Dharashiv (Osmanabad) is one of the key districts where voting will take place. It falls under the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division. As of 2017 polls, there were 55 Zilla Parishad seats in Dharashiv.
Besides, there were 110 seats across 8 Panchayat Samitis. These Panchayat Samitis include Paranda, Bhoom, Vashi, Kalamb, Dharashiv, Tuljapur, Lohara and Umerga.
What happened in Dharashiv (Osmanabad) in 2017?
Maharashtra’s political landscape has undergone a major transformation since 2017, particularly after the internal ruptures within two key political parties— the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). At the time, both parties functioned as unified entities and followed well-defined alliance structures.
In the 2017 elections, the undivided NCP entered the fray alongside the Congress and the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP). The Shiv Sena, then intact, fought the polls in partnership with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Dharashiv (Osmanabad) witnessed 65.19 per cent voting in 2017.
Panchayat Samitis (110 seats)
Party-wise seats tally
BJP- 11
Congress- 29
United NCP- 52
United Shiv Sena- 18
Zilla Parishad (55 seats)
Party-wise seats tally
BJP- 4
Congress- 13
United NCP- 26
United Shiv Sena- 11
Independent- 1
