Jaipur: The State Election Commission (SEC) has written a letter to the panchayati raj department warning it that if the elections were not held within the stipulated time and the Supreme Court or High Court take contempt action, the panchayati raj department officials would be held responsible.The commission asked the state govt to comply with the court’s order and inform it about the reservation status of all seats. In a letter dated March 9, the SEC referred to a Supreme Court ruling in a Madhya Pradesh case, which allowed local body elections to be conducted even without an OBC Commission report. The commission directed the panchayati raj department to finalise reservations soon, noting that OBC seats could be treated as ‘general’ if a decision is not taken, suggesting a legal way to conduct panchayati raj elections.Earlier, Rajasthan’s local body elections may be delayed again after the state OBC Commission has told state chief secretary V Srinivas that population data needed to finalise OBC seat reservations is incomplete and inaccurate.In a letter to Srinivas, the OBC Commission said the Jan Aadhaar Authority’s backward-class population data had “serious discrepancies,” leaving it unable to determine OBC reservation in panchayat wards. It urged the state to direct all district collectors to send accurate, complete information to enable the reservation exercise.The commission also flagged discrepancies in data linked to Rajasthan State Commission for Backward Classes records on panchayat-wise SC and ST reservations, saying clear and complete panchayat-level population figures and required SC/ST reservation information had not been provided.With the data still incomplete, it is uncertain whether the commission can submit its OBC reservation report to the state govt by March 31. The Rajasthan high court had earlier directed the state to conduct local body elections by mid-April.Anticipating the govt’s alleged but to further delay the overdue local body polls, former Cong MLA Sanyam Lodha filed a caveat in Supreme Court against the state’s petition seeking to postpone elections to 113 urban local bodies. Sources said the Commission highlighted anomalies across gram panchayats. It said that in 403 panchayats, both total population and OBC population were recorded as zero. In 118 panchayats, total population was shown as 1–500, and in 266 panchayats it was 501–1,000. The figures contradict the Panchayati Raj department guidelines that gram panchayats should have a population of over 1,200.The panel said the discrepancies show the population data is incomplete and inaccurate and asked the Jan Aadhaar Authority to rectify errors. It also said that despite informing the panchayati raj department, panchayat-wise population figures and SC/ST reservation details had not been received till Feb 24.
