LUCKNOW: Already delayed, the three-tier rural local body polls are likely to take place in Uttar Pradesh between March 15 and 30. However, the official announcement of dates is likely to come around February 15.
According to Panchayati Raj Minister Bhupendra Chaudhary, the work of delimitation of wards is under process while reorganization of gram sabhas has been completed. The four districts of Moradabad, Gonda, Sambhal and Gautam Budh Nagar are under full delimitation and the work for districts under partial delimitation is going on.
The tenure of 60,000 gram panchayats of the state had ended on December 25. The delay in conducting the polls in time has come amid the pandemic as the revision of the voters’ list and other modalities which are being conducted now could not be held as per the schedule.
Talking to mediapersons, Panchayati Raj Minister stated that by January 14, the delimitation work would be completed, following which the work of reservation will be concluded. As of now, the reservation for gram panchayat seats was fixed at district headquarters. However, this time the process has been moved online. The reservation of seats for gram sabha, Block Development Council, Gram Pradhan and Zilla panchayat members in gram panchayats will be decided from Lucknow. The population of revenue villages will be assessed to implement reservation in panchayats.
The state government has appointed assistant development officers of districts as panchayat administrators of their districts, vesting in them the powers of panchayat committees and village panchayat heads following the expiry of the terms of village panchayats on December 25.
Meanwhile, the BJP will chalk out its strategy for the coming panchayat elections at a meeting on Sunday which is likely to be attended by national vice president and in-charge of state affairs in the party, Radha Mohan Singh.
However, the panchayat elections in UP are being considered the semi-final ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections in the state. With an eye on the Assembly elections, various political parties have stepped up their preparations for the panchayat polls.
The fight for the upcoming panchayat elections is set to become more intense by the day. While the ruling BJP is up against the SP, BSP and Congress, new rivals in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiv Sena would make the rural local body elections even more interesting.
After the AAP of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is all set to enter the fray in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections.
The Shiv Sena has sought applications from all the districts for selection of candidates. Earlier, the AAP announced it would contest the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh.