The Rajasthan High Court has asked the state government and the State Election Commission to submit the detailed schedule for holding the Panchayat and Urban Civic Bodies elections in the state before the court by July 20.
A division bench of the high court, comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjit Purohit, issued the directives to the State Election Commissioner Rajeshwar Singh and State Other Backward Classes (OBCs) Commission Secretary Ashok Kumar Jain who attended the proceedings via online video conferencing on Thursday.
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The bench said that the state government and the election commission should discuss and finalize the schedule with the OBCs Commission: on what date the panel would submit the quota report, by what date the government would draw the lottery for delimitation enlisting wards, and by what dates the state election commission would declare election dates.
The concerned authorities would attend the next hearing too. The bench expressed its displeasure over the state’s repeated failures to meet the court’s deadline for holding the polls.
Holding hearing in a number of petitions in the matter, including one by former MLA Sanyam Lodha, the high court on November 14, 2025 ordered the state government to conduct panchayat and municipal elections by April 15, 2026.
Following the state’s and the state election commission’s failure to meet the deadline, contempt of court petitions were filed by Lodha and others. On these petitions the high court yet again directed the state on May 22, 2026, to hold elections to the bodies in reference by July 31, 2026.
Since, this deadline was also unlikely to be met, Lodha and one Giriraj Devanda moved into a contempt of court petition that is currently being heard.
Non-receipt of the OBCs commission’s report for political representation of the category and recommendations for the reservation quota are pleaded as reasons behind the delay in holding the polls.
