High Court strict on Panchayat elections, date sought from Election Commission!

The Lucknow bench of the High Court, taking a strict stand regarding the Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, asked the State Election Commission as to when the Gram Panchayat elections would be conducted in the state. The court has directed the Commission to give information about the election schedule or possible date on the next hearing. Besides, the state government has also been asked to submit the report of the Other Backward Class (OBC) Commission constituted for the Panchayat elections in the court by July 10.

This order was given by Justice Shekhar B. A division bench of Justice Saraf and Justice Awadhesh Kumar Chaudhary passed the ruling while hearing a PIL filed by Omprakash Prajapati. The matter pertains to the appointment of village heads as administrators in their respective gram panchayats by the state government after their tenure ends. In the petition, this arrangement has been challenged as contrary to the spirit of the constitutional and statutory provisions.

During the hearing, it was said on behalf of the petitioner that holding elections in a timely manner after the tenure of the Panchayats is over is an essential part of the democratic process. In such a situation, appointing only elected representatives as administrators cannot be considered in accordance with the intention of the law.

Senior advocate Amarendra Nath, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that the state government has constituted the OBC Commission for determining reservation in Panchayat elections and other processes. The government’s stand was that the Commission has been given six months time to submit the report and the election process can proceed only after receiving the report.

However, the division bench did not express satisfaction with this argument of the government and clarified that the case cannot be kept pending indefinitely. The court directed that the progress report or final report of the OBC Commission be presented before the court on the next hearing i.e. on July 10.

The court has also sought a clear answer from the State Election Commission as to what stage the preparations for conducting Panchayat elections are in and what will be the possible time frame for the elections. After the instructions of the court, now both the Commission and the State Government will have to inform the court about the status of election preparations and reservation related process.

Let us tell you that the tenure of village heads in the state has recently ended. After this, for the purpose of maintaining the administrative system, the state government had decided to temporarily appoint the concerned village heads as administrators, regarding which this PIL has been filed.

The next hearing of the case will be on July 10, in which the important situation regarding the timeline of Panchayat elections and the report of the OBC Commission is likely to become clear.