India, Dec. 3 -- In a major development, the Bombay High Court has barred the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) from counting of votes and declaration of the results of the polls to the Municipal Councils, Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayat elections held in the state on Tuesday (December 2) till December 21.

As notified by the SEC on November 4, the polls to as many as 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayats across the state were scheduled to be held on December 2 (Tuesday). However, the polling was held for a majority of the local bodies on Tuesday, while the SEC deferred the polls to some of the local bodies to December 20.

In its ruling on a bunch of petitions challenging the SEC's move to defer the election of certai...