UP Panchayat poll: BJP trying to bypass semi-finals?

“Before May, we could do ₹5,000 worth of work at the Gram Sabha level. Now, even for ₹10,00,000,000 worth of work, we need approval from the district administration,” says a village Pradhan from Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district, referring to the delay in local body elections in the state.

The Allahabad High Court’s directive to the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the three-tier panchayat elections within three months has sparked conversation in the village chaupalas.

The state government postponed the elections, which were to be held after the expiry of the previous term in May 2026, to await the report of the Commission for Reserved Backward Classes on OBC reservations. The government has put in place an interim arrangement where outgoing Gram Pradhans act as trustees temporarily until new elected bodies take over.

However, the High Court ruled that the polls cannot be delayed beyond the constitutional limits and must proceed as per the existing 27% OBC reservation framework. The number comes from an earlier exercise ahead of the 2021 polls, when the state conducted a snap survey to estimate the OBC population for reservation purposes instead of a triple test that examines political backwardness.

Political observers and opposition leaders alleged that the state government knew the May 2026 expiry date and could have constituted the commission months or even a year in advance to avoid a government vacuum. They reminded the court that the ‘triple test’ formula ordered by the Supreme Court for providing reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local body elections has been in place since 2010 and the Supreme Court made it mandatory in 2021.

Welcoming the Supreme Court order, Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said the state is ready to hold elections. “The Supreme Court has given its order; the Backward Classes Commission should take care of the matter. What must we do? We are ready to comply with the order. Once the Commission’s report is submitted, why would there be a need to approach the Supreme Court?” he said at a media conference.

However, the Rashtriya Panchayatiraj Gram Pradhan Sangathan (RPGPS), an organization that advocates for the rights of village officials and Panchayati Raj institutions, said it will challenge the order in the Supreme Court as the court demands reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) against its triple test formula, which says that if the requirements of the triple test (including the creation of a reserved seat must be reserved for OBCs) seats will not be met.

It further alleged a significant discrepancy between the voter lists prepared for the panchayat elections and the lists for the assembly elections. “Abhi Gaon ki satta Gaon ke haath main hai (Nowadays, the power of the village is in the hands of the villagers), said Akhilesh Singh, national president of RPGPS. He pointed out that this was the first time that grampradhans became trustees after their term expired to manage the day to day roles and the ongoing OBC triple test polls,” he said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Congress MP Tanuj Punia and AAP leader Sanjay Singh have also flagged the irregularities in the voter rolls. While several Indian states borrow, synchronize or adopt the Election Commission of India (ECI) master electoral roll for local elections, UP is one of the few exceptions that strictly maintains its own independent electoral rolls for local polls.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated primary school teachers’ union president said that when SIR was presented as a panacea for all ills, it would be better to work on a common voter list. “Currently there are separate BLOs for the two reels. It means more work for teachers in the census year and politically it creates the impression that there is something wrong with the enumeration process when everyone knows that the two lists cannot be completely reconciled.”

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RDL) say the Panchayat elections were sidelined as the ruling dispensation did not want to create “bad blood among the rural cadre” in an election year.

While UP panchayat elections are held without official party symbols, they strongly influence local politics. When a political party supports a particular candidate, the parties feel rejected by the candidate and his supporters may turn against him in the next council elections. “It’s a well-recognized dynamic in rural politics, but you have to live with it and the panchayat poll is seen as a kind of semi-final,” said the hopeful with references to the BJP. “The side seems to want to go straight to the final,” he noted.

An RLD insider said there is a meaningful silence on the ground as people know the government is in no mood to conduct panchayat polls ahead of the assembly elections. “If it had been done in May, we would have been ready, but now with the small gap between the two polls, it is neither practically nor politically viable,” he said.

Samajwadi Party national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi claimed that the state government had deliberately delayed the process because it did not want to face the wrath of its core support base, saying “the UGC directive, the theft of donations to the Ram Temple and the paper leaks created an anti-BJP impression and threatened its upper caste votes”.

Further, referring to newspaper reports of the 2021 elections, Mr. Gandhi said that SP-backed candidates have outperformed BJP-backed candidates in the Zila Panchayat polls. “I assume the delay was caused by this concern, but I still call on the BJP-led government to clarify the reasons and ensure that the entire election process, including the reservation, is completed within the court-ordered deadline.”

Meanwhile, at a meeting in Ghaziabad, CM Yogi Adityanath projected the upcoming MLC elections for teaching and postgraduate constituencies as semi-finals.

Published – 20 Oct 2026 13:21 IST