HC criticises govt over delay in panchayat, civic elections; order reserved

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court Monday strongly criticised the state govt for failing to conduct panchayat and urban local body elections within the timeline fixed earlier by the court. Observing that repeated delays were unacceptable, the division bench remarked orally that the govt’s approach was “not proper” and that sufficient time had already been granted to complete the election process.

The observations came during the hearing on applications filed by the state govt and the Rajasthan State Election Commission seeking additional time to hold the elections. After hearing arguments from all the parties, the bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjeet Purohit reserved its order.

During the hearing, Advocate General Rajendra Prasad submitted that the election process was affected due to two separate high court judgments concerning internal ward delimitation in urban local bodies. However, the bench questioned why panchayat elections were not conducted if the issue was related only to municipal bodies.

The Advocate General informed the court that elections could not be held because the report of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) Commission was still pending. “The OBC Commission was constituted on May 9, 2025, but it repeatedly sought more time for preparing its report, leading to extensions of its tenure,” Prasad submitted.

The bench observed that the “court had no details regarding the functioning of the OBC Commission” and remarked that “directions could have been issued to it as well if its status was placed before the court”.

Earlier, on Nov 14, 2025, the high court, while deciding 439 petitions, directed the state govt to complete the delimitation process by Dec 31, 2025, and conduct panchayat and civic elections by April 15, 2026. The Supreme Court also endorsed the same timeline while hearing petitions challenging the High Court order.

In its application, the state govt cited pending OBC reservation determination, shortage of school infrastructure, heat wave in May and June, polling staff and EVMs, along with the proposal to synchronise elections under the “One State-One Election” concept, as reasons for seeking more time.

Meanwhile, former MLA Sanyam Lodha and Girraj Devanda filed a contempt petition against the state election commission for alleged non-compliance with the court’s directions. The contempt plea is scheduled for hearing on May 18.

Meanwhile, former MLA Sanyam Lodha and Girraj Devanda had filed a contempt petition against the State Election Commission for alleged non-compliance of the court’s directions. The contempt plea is scheduled for hearing on May 18.