Lucknow, Aug 5 The Allahabad High Court has expressed concern over the delay in conducting panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh and observed that the state government should, in future, begin preparations at least two years before the expiry of the tenure of elected local bodies to ensure compliance with the Constitution.
The Lucknow bench of the high court made the observations while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Sanjay Kumar Sharma.
The high court said that preparations initiated well in advance would help ensure that panchayat elections are completed within the five-year term mandated under the Constitution.
The bench comprising Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla noted that although the state government had initiated the poll process in May 2025, elections could not be held before the expiry of the constitutional tenure of the panchayats on May 26, 2026.
Seeking records from the state government, the court said it would examine the reasons for the delay and determine whether it was caused by circumstances beyond the government's control or by a failure of authorities in discharging their constitutional obligation to hold timely elections.
The bench observed that Article 243-E provides for a five-year term for panchayats and requires fresh elections to be completed before the expiry of that period.
It said the election process must therefore begin sufficiently in advance to meet the constitutional requirement.
During the hearing, the court said it had examined certain electronic records relating to the delay in the election process and directed that the records be produced again on the next date of hearing.
The bench said it would scrutinise the material to ascertain why the elections could not be conducted despite the process having commenced in May 2025.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 11.
