Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday directed the state election commission (SEC) to hold the three-tier panchayat elections in the state within three months.The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Garima Prashad while hearing a batch of writ petitions, with the petition filed by Dashrath Yadav being the lead case.The petitioner had sought directions to the SEC to place on record a detailed, time-bound schedule for the completion of the panchayat election process well before the expiry of the tenure of district panchayats.“It is expected from the State Election Commission that the entire schedule for holding the election should be finalised and brought on record before the next date of listing,” the court observed.Earlier, the additional chief standing counsel had submitted that state govt 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.State’s panchayati raj minister OP Rajbhar welcomed the HC order. “We will give a detailed response when we see the full order,” he added.Political analysts say that if the panchayat polls are conducted as per the HC’s order, they would coincide with the census exercise. Besides, the state elections are likely to be held in Feb-March next year. Moreover, the legislative council elections are also being held this month.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 govt’s functioning, as the five-year term of panchayats had ended but elections had not been held.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 govt had continued to delay them until October.
