Prayagraj, Oct 14 The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday directed the State Election Commission to hold polls to Panchayati Raj institutions in Uttar Pradesh within three months.
The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices Ajit Kumar and Garima Prashad.
The petitioner had moved the court seeking a direction to the State Election Commission to place on record a detailed time-bound schedule for completion of the entire panchayat election process well before the expiry of district panchayats’ tenure.
“It is expected from respondent No.2 (State Election Commission) that the entire schedule of holding the election should be finalised and brought on record before the next date of listing,” the court observed, while allowing the plea by Dashrath Yadav.
Earlier, Additional Chief Standing Counsel had submitted that the state government had appointed an OBC Commission for determining the reservation aspects related to the Other Backward Classes category.
The election of gram pradhans and members of gram panchayats cannot be held until the said exercise is completed, as a decision on the reservations would be part of the said elections, he had submitted. Till date, the OBC Commission has not submitted its report.
The High Court directed that the election be held within three months with the completion of the reservation exercise.
The Congress and the Samajwadi Party lauded the High Court directive and accused the BJP government of delaying the polls due to its fear of defeat.
Assembly elections in the state are also due early next year.
Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj minister OP Rajbhar welcomed the High Court order and said, “We will give a detailed response when we see the full order.”
Rajbhar was replying to a query by PTI on how the government intends to meet the court’s 3-month deadline for the triple-tier polls for Zila Panchayats (district level), Kshetra Panchayats (intermediary/ block level) and Gram Panchayats (village level).
The three-month deadline set by the court means that these rural elections would have to be held by January 2027. The Registrar General of India has announced that population enumeration will be held in Uttar Pradesh along with three other poll-bound states from December 1 to January 4, 2027.
Graduate and Teachers constituency polls for electing 11 Members of the Legislative Council (MLC) are currently on and will conclude on October 23, 2026.
“It’s going to be a busy period till the 2027 polls,” a senior official said.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ said the court’s decision was an important step towards strengthening democracy and raised serious questions about the state government’s functioning, as the five-year term of panchayats had ended but elections had not been held.
She alleged that by postponing the elections and retaining outgoing village heads as administrators, the BJP government was affecting people’s democratic rights.
Mishra claimed the government feared that rural discontent against it would be reflected in the panchayat polls and could also have an impact on the 2027 Assembly elections.
She also expressed concern over the process of collecting data for reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), saying the High Court had questioned the adequacy of the exercise.
The Congress demanded that the panchayat elections be held within three months in accordance with the court’s directions, adequate and reliable data be collected for OBC reservation, and the constitutional rights of backward classes be protected.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand also accused the BJP of repeatedly postponing the elections due to fear of defeat.
He said the panchayat polls should have been held in May or June, but the government had continued to delay them until October.
“The BJP has been continuously postponing panchayat elections for fear of defeat,” Chand claimed, adding that the party respected the judiciary’s decision and would not comment on the court’s ruling.
He claimed the outcome of the panchayat elections would be similar to that of the Assembly polls and asserted that the BJP would lose both.
(PTI News)
