Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a five-member dedicated Backwards Classes Commission (OBC Commission) for the Panchayat elections to be held this year.
The commission was approved by Yogi Adityanath cabinet in the last meeting on May 18.
The Commission is likely to submit its report by November, 2026. After this, the reservation in the rural civic bodies will be decided. The announcement makes it clear that the rural civic elections will be held only after the state Assembly elections of 2027.
The government has appointed retired Justice Ram Autar Singh of Allahabad High Court the chairman of the commission. Additionally, two retired Additional District Judges (Brijesh Kumar, Santosh Vishwakarma) and two retired IAS officers (Dr Arvind Chaurasia and SP Singh) have been included in the commission as members.
The chairman of the commission and both retired Additional District Judges have previously served as chairmen of the OBC Commission constituted in 2022 for determining reservation for backward classes in urban local body elections.
The commission, led by retired Justice Ram Autar Singh, had submitted its report within three months. The Supreme Court also agreed with this report and gave the go ahead for conducting the local body elections. Retired IAS Dr Arvind Chaurasia and SP Singh have been inducted in the newly-constituted commission as new members.
All members in the commission, except SP Singh, are from backward classes. Chairman Ram Autar Singh comes from the Jat community. Meanwhile, Santosh Kumar Vishwakarma is from the Lohar community, Brijesh Kumar Swarnkar, and Dr Arvind Chaurasia is also from an OBC community.
According to Commission’s chairman Ram Autar Singh, the commission's office will be established soon. “After that, I will take charge of my duties. The commission will talk to all sections of society and visit districts. After this, a report will be prepared. The commission will strive to present the report before the stipulated deadline,” he said while talking to media persons.
Based on the report of the Backward Class Commission, it will be decided which Panchayat seat will be reserved for OBC (female or male) and which will remain general.
In fact, the Supreme Court had stated that before providing OBC reservation in local bodies (such as Gram Panchayat, Zila Panchayat), states must complete the process after a 'Triple Test', i.e., a three-tier investigation.
This commission has been formed to complete this triple test. The commission will collect data on the OBC community. If the government had directly implemented the reservation without the commission's report, the matter could have been stuck in court and the panchayat elections could have been halted.
With the formation of the commission, elections can now be conducted in a legally secure manner.
The commission has been entrusted with three main responsibilities including data collection related to the population of backward classes in local bodies (at block and panchayat levels) and their need for political representation. A report will be prepared on this basis.
Secondly, the commission will ensure that the total reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes combined does not exceed 50 per cent limit.
Finally, based on the commission's recommendations, the number of reserved seats in each local body will be determined according to the proportion of the OBC population.
Notably, the last Panchayat elections in UP were held in 2021. The five-year term of Panchayats is completing on May 25-26, 2026.
According to constitutional rules, new elections should have been completed before the expiry of the current term. This means Panchayat elections in UP were scheduled to be held on or before May 2026.
However, before the announcement of elections in UP, the matter reached the High Court. The High Court ordered fresh reservation by forming an OBC commission. This is why elections will be held a year late this time.
