SEC blames Raj govt for delay in civic body polls

Jaipur: The State Election Commission (SEC) Tuesday blamed the Rajasthan govt for the delay in conducting panchayat and urban local body elections, telling the high court that it could not proceed with the election process because the govt failed to provide mandatory delimitation and reservation data on time.

Tendering an unconditional apology before the Rajasthan High Court for not meeting the April 15 deadline it had fixed earlier for completing the elections, the commission maintained that there was no wilful disobedience of judicial orders and that the delay arose out of “functional impossibility”.

During a hearing of contempt petitions filed by former MLAs Sanyam Lodha and Girraj Singh Devanda, the SEC said that the responsibility for defining boundaries of panchayats and urban local bodies, carrying out ward delimitation exercises and issuing final reservation lists rests solely with the state govt.

“Until this information is formally communicated, the commission cannot complete the election process,” the SEC stated in its reply.

State election commissioner Rajeshwar Singh and SEC secretary Rajesh Verma, in separate replies filed before the high court, said the commission holds the judiciary in the “highest respect” and never knowingly violated any court direction.

The SEC also informed the court that it had already moved an application on April 15 seeking an extension of the deadline fixed by the court. Therefore, the commission argued, contempt proceedings against it were not maintainable.

The SEC further contended that in the original matter, on the basis of which contempt petitions were filed, the SEC was not even a party to the proceedings. It claimed that no notice or copy of the order had been formally served on the commission.

The Rajasthan govt, in a separate submission before the court, also denied any deliberate delay and stated that the processes related to reservation and delimitation involved statutory formalities that required time. The govt informed the court that another division bench has already fixed July 31 as the new deadline for completing the elections. It argued that contempt petitions against it were therefore infructuous.

The contempt case stemmed from a Nov 14, 2025, order of the high court directing the state govt to complete the delimitation process by Dec 31, 2025, and conduct local body and panchayat elections by April 15, 2026. The SEC, however, extended the voter list revision process till April 22, prompting Lodha to move a contempt plea, alleging that the SEC’s revised schedule amounted to deliberate contempt.

The high court disposed of the contempt petitions after hearing both parties.