The Rajasthan government told the Supreme Court that panchayat and municipal elections will be held by April next year. Accepting the assurance, the Court declined to interfere with the Rajasthan High Court’s order fixing the deadline.
New Delhi: The Rajasthan government on Friday assured the Supreme Court that elections to panchayats and municipal corporations in the State will be held within the time frame fixed by the Rajasthan High Court, that is, by April next year.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, refused to interfere with the Rajasthan High Court’s November 14 order which directed the State to complete the local body elections by April 2026.
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The Supreme Court disposed of a petition filed by Congress leader and former MLA Sanyam Lodha, who had sought immediate conduct of the municipal and panchayat elections, alleging that there was an unjustified and prolonged delay by the State government.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, appearing for the Rajasthan government, informed the Court that the ongoing delimitation exercise was almost complete.
He assured the Bench that elections to local bodies would be conducted within the deadline already fixed by the High Court.
Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that, at this stage, there was no reason for the Supreme Court to doubt the assurance given by the State government.
The Bench also clarified that if the elections were delayed for any reason, the affected parties would be free to approach the Rajasthan High Court again for appropriate relief.
While refusing to entertain the Special Leave Petition, the Bench said,
“It seems to us that the delimitation exercise is nearing completion, and the high court has issued directions to complete the exercise by April 15, 2026. We see no reason to entertain this SLP (Special Leave Petition),”
thereby upholding the High Court’s directions.
The Rajasthan High Court, in its order dated November 14, had directed the State government to conduct the pending panchayat and municipal elections together and to complete the entire election process by April 15 next year.
The High Court had also instructed the authorities to complete the delimitation exercise for both rural and urban local bodies by December 31.
In the same order, the High Court had dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the reorganisation and delimitation of panchayats. It had also rejected pleas opposing the removal of elected pradhans and sarpanches, who were subsequently appointed as administrators.
According to the State government, elections are due in more than 11,000 gram panchayats and 309 urban local bodies across Rajasthan.
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Former MLA Sanyam Lodha and other petitioners had argued that the continued postponement of these elections violated constitutional provisions as well as the Rajasthan Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.
With the Supreme Court declining to interfere, the Rajasthan government is now bound to conduct the long-pending local body elections within the timeline set by the High Court.
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