Maharashtra State Election Commissioner UPS Madan has announced that elections to 14,234 gram panchayats will be held on the  15th of January. The  local body polls will cover 34 districts barring Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban districts.   With this, the model  code of conduct has come into force. The counting of votes will be held on the 18th of January.<br />'' <br />'' He added that nominations would be accepted from the  23rd till the 30th of December while scrutiny would be done on 31st of December. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is 4th of January.<br />'' <br />'' The State Election Commissioner said elections to 1,566 gram panchayats, were to be held on March 31st this year. However, the polls were put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said elections to those gram panchayats whose tenure ends this month, will also be held on 15th January.