Overview
- State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said election laws provide no requirement to hold a poll when only one valid nomination remains.
- The commission clarified that NOTA is not a candidate and that uncontested winners will be announced alongside other results on January 16.
- The SEC said re-polls may be ordered if NOTA gets more votes than any candidate, with a 2017 rule allowing five-year debarment if NOTA again leads after a re-poll.
- Opposition leaders have alleged engineered withdrawals and have gone to court, including a PIL by Suhas Wankhede and a petition by MNS leader Avinash Jadhav; the High Court set the PIL for hearing in two weeks.
- About 69 seats across nine municipal corporations are uncontested, with most winners from the ruling Mahayuti bloc—BJP 44, Shiv Sena 22 and NCP 2—according to reported tallies.