LUCKNOW: Allahabad High Court, on Friday, expressed strong displeasure over the delay in UP rural civic elections and over the appointment of village heads as administrators for the polls.
Hearing a petition challenging the appointment of village heads as administrators, the Bench of Justice Siddharth Nandan asked the state government, as to how they appointed village heads as administrators.
The court observed that the move violated the Division Bench's order, falling in the category of contempt of court. The court postponed the matter for the next hearing on July 13.
The High Court also said that if the state government failed to give a satisfactory reply by then, the official concerned would have to appear in the court in person.
However, during the hearing, the State Election Commission told the court that the voters' list had already been published on June 10, 2026 and that it was ready to conduct the elections. However, the poll process has been stalled as the state government has not provided the necessary arrangements.
On March 17, while hearing the petition, the court had questioned the State Election Commission over the delay in holding the Panchayat polls in the state.
The court has asked the commission to clarify the status of preparations for the Gram Panchayat elections-2026.
On March 17, a petition filed by petitioner Imtiaz Hussain was heard.
It demanded that a detailed and time-bound programme for the entire process of Panchayat elections be presented before the court before the expiry of the District Panchayat's term.
The case was heard by a division bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan.
Petitioner Imtiaz Hussain argued in court that, according to Article 243E of the Constitution, the term of a Panchayat can be a maximum of 5 years from the date of its first meeting.
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct elections on time.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission argued that according to Section 12-BB of the UP Panchayat Raj Act 1947, it is the responsibility of the state government to issue a notification fixing the date for general elections or by-elections of the Pradhan.
This notification is issued in consultation with the State Election Commission.
After hearing all sides, the High Court has asked the State Election Commission whether it was in a position to conduct the Panchayat elections according to the existing February 19, 2026, notification.
The court also said that the Panchayat elections should be completed by or before May 26, 2026.
The last Panchayat elections were held in UP in 2021. Based on it, the terms of Gram Pradhans, Gram Panchayat members, Kshetra Panchayat members, and Zila Panchayat members ended on May 2.
Hence, the Panchayat elections are proposed to be held from April to June 2026. The state government and the State Election Commission were preparing to conduct the Panchayat elections in April-May.
However, it got delayed as the publication of the final voter list for the panchayat polls got delayed, with large administrative, teacher, and employee staff of the state engaged in the house listing work for the Census.
