NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday approved the decision of the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court directing Maharashtra State Election Commission to declare results of all civic body elections on completion of next round of voting on Dec 20, and clarified that announcement of the results would not be postponed further due to pendency of pleas in HC.All municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state were scheduled to go to polls on Dec 2. However, voting took place in 264 of them on Dec 2, with the state EC postponing elections in 24 seats where appeals are pending over acceptance and rejection of nomination papers.Appearing for petitioners, senior advocate A M Singhvi said that with the appeals pending, there is an apprehension that declaration of results may get pushed further as the adjudication of the pleas would be a time-consuming affair requiring a response from respondents and hearing by HC.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said there is nothing new in election results being declared after the last phase of polling to prevent voters in constituencies which go to polls later from getting influenced by the mood of voters in constituencies where elections were held earlier.The bench directed the state EC to declare the results of all civic bodies after completion of elections in the second phase, and clarified that “pendency of the petitions in HC would not be an impediment for declaration of the results.”
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