Mumbai, Nov 8 : Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SS-UBT) on Saturday took the lead in announcing its list of 40 star campaigners for the upcoming local and civic body elections in Maharashtra. The campaigners will undertake whirlwind tours across the state to boost the party's election drive.

The list includes Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Bhaskar Jadhav, Aadesh Bandekar, Sushma Andhare, Kiran Mane, Sharad Koli, and party MP Sanjay Raut, who is currently undergoing treatment for health reasons.

Other prominent names on the list are Subhash Desai, Anant Geete, Chandrakant Khaire, Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, Vinayak Raut, Anil Parab, Rajan Vichare, Sunil Prabhu, Varun Sardesai, Ambadas Danve, Ravindra Mirlekar, Vishakha Raut, Nitin Banugade Patil, Rajkumar Bafna, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Sachin Ahir, Manoj Jamsutkar, Sanjay (Bandu) Jadhav, Kishori Pednekar, Jyoti Thakare, Sheetal Sheth Devrukhkar, Janhavi Sawant, Omraje Nimbalkar, Sunil Shinde, Vaibhav Naik, Nitin Deshmukh, Anand Dube, Ashok Tiwari, Priyanka Joshi, Sachin Sathe, and Laxman Wadle.

Earlier in the day, the State Election Commission (SEC) increased the permissible number of star campaigners from 20 to 40 following representations made by various political parties.

In a statement, the SEC said: "Representatives of political parties had demanded that the number of star campaigners for local body elections be increased to 40 during a meeting held at the Commission's office on October 14, 2025. The details regarding star campaigners are mentioned in paragraph 26 of the Maharashtra State Political Parties Registration, Regulation and Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 2025. Based on these provisions and keeping in mind the demand of political representatives, this number has been increased. Political parties must submit the list of star campaigners to the concerned District Collector or Municipal Commissioner for the elections to the respective local bodies."

On November 4, the SEC announced the election schedule for 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayats across the state. There are 6,859 members and 288 presidents in these local bodies.

The elections will be held on December 2, with counting on December 3.

The filing of nominations will start on November 10, with the last date for filing being November 17. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on November 18, while withdrawal of nominations with appeals will be allowed till November 25, and without appeals till November 21.

After a fortnight, the SEC is expected to announce the schedule for elections to 32 zilla parishads, followed by polls to 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The Supreme Court has directed the SEC to complete all pending local body elections in Maharashtra by January 31, 2026.

/IANS