As instructed by the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has resumed the local body pre-poll process from where it stopped on March 10 this year following the enactment of new laws that transferred its (the SEC’s) powers to the government.

But the process is expected to prolong because of the sheer volume of the local bodies (2,486) and different stages of pre-poll preparations. The time taken to complete it augurs well for the state government that has decided to collate the empirical data for the OBC quota as early as next month, in order to get it restored by the SC, if not in all local bodies, at least in those that might go to polls after the court’s order.