Mumbai: The state council of ministers on Thursday decided to give all powers to appoint the new state election commissioner (SEC) to chief minsiter Devendra Fadnavis.
Officials said a decision on the new SEC could be taken soon in view of the pending BMC and other local body polls. A decision may be taken before Fadnavis travels to Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) later this week.

The SEC has been headless since Sept 24, when U P S Madan’s tenure ended. Officials said that former chief secretary Nitin Kareer, former Mumbai Port Authority (MPA) chairman Rajiv Jalota, additional chief secretary (ACS) (planning) Rajagopal Deora, and ACS (medical education) Dinesh Waghmare are in the fray.
In Dec, the state govt extended the tenure of SEC member secretary Suresh Kakani by a year, indicating that the much-delayed BMC election is likely to be held within this period. The initial appointment of Kakani, a former additional municipal commissioner, was for three years, with the provision that it would be renewed on an annual basis. At the end of one year, he was given an extension of six months, which ended on Nov 9.
The BMC election was last held in 2017, and the BMC has been without an elected body for close to three years. A senior urban development official said after SC’s order to maintain the status quo, polls to BMC and 28 other municipal corporations, 243 municipal councils, and 37 nagar panchayats were postponed. The row over the number of seats, including for each ward, and the process of ward formation are some of the issues before the SC.
“All pending cases have been clubbed and are listed in Jan. So polls will be held based on SC orders,” said the official.