India, May 7 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the path for elections to 687 urban and rural local bodies in Maharashtra, some of which haven't had any elected representatives for over five years and are ruled by state government-appointed administrators due to ongoing litigation over reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and delimitation exercises.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked the state election commission (SEC) to notify the elections in four weeks and hold them within four months, while allowing the SEC to seek more time in appropriate cases.

It also stated that reservation for OBC candidates in the elections will be as it existed before the submission of the JK Banthia Commission report in ...