India, Feb. 9 -- If democracy is a festival, Maharashtra has just lived through a long and tiring season. It began with the overstretched five-phase Lok Sabha elections in 2024, rolled almost immediately into the assembly polls in November that year, and finally staggered to a halt with the last round of local body elections starting in December 2025 through February 2026.

Municipal councils came first, followed by Municipal Corporations, and now Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in 12 districts. The electronic voting machines have barely cooled before being wheeled out again.

For voters, administrators and political parties, this has not felt like one election cycle but a near-permanent state of polling. Fatigue among citizens ...