BHUBANESWAR: The state government has not taken any decision to conduct the rural elections before the scheduled timeline of February 2027 and there is currently no proposal to reorganise blocks or gram panchayats, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water minister Rabi Narayan Naik informed the Assembly on Monday.
Replying to separate questions from BJD MLA Ganeswar Behera, Naik clarified that no administrative guidelines have been framed so far for reorganisation of blocks or panchayats. “If the government takes a formal decision in this regard, proposals received for reorganisation will be examined thoroughly in accordance with the prevailing rules and guidelines,” he said.
Responding to another query from Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati on whether panchayat elections would be advanced before February 2027, the minister stated that no such decision has been taken by the government. On the issue of fresh boundary demarcation in view of the rising population, Naik said the government has examined the matter keeping in view the general elections to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) due in 2027.
However, due to the ongoing Census process, the Revenue and Disaster Management department has frozen the jurisdictional limits of revenue villages and urban local bodies from January 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
Because of this constitutional and procedural restriction and the absence of updated population data, the government has taken a policy decision not to undertake any general reorganisation or fresh delimitation of gram panchayats before the 2027 elections, he informed.
Earlier, Revenue minister Suresh Pujari had stated that delimitation of revenue villages, blocks and tehasils would not be taken up before completion of the Census exercise. He had clarified that administrative boundaries are required to remain unchanged during the Census period to ensure accuracy of enumeration. The upcoming Census will be conducted in two phases - the first beginning in April 2026 and the second scheduled for February 2027.