Rajasthan Delays Local Body Elections By 6 Months Again As OBC Commission Tenure Extended
· Free Press Journal
Jaipur: Holding urban local body and panchayat elections has become a major political issue in Rajasthan, as the elections have once again been postponed for the next six months. The state government has, for the third time, extended the tenure of the OBC Commission constituted to classify OBC reservations for these elections. In the meantime, the opposition Congress has launched a month-long “Strengthen the Organization, Save Democracy” agitation across the state on the issue.
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The state government, following the Supreme Court ruling, had constituted the OBC Commission on May 9, 2025, to classify OBC reservations in urban civic body and Panchayat elections. It was directed to submit its report within three months; however, the report is still awaited, as there were anomalies in the data provided by the districts regarding the OBC population. Now, the commission's tenure has been extended for a third time, pushing the deadline to September 30, 2026.
The Supreme Court mandates that OBC reservation in local body elections is permissible only after fulfilling the “triple test” requirement—a dedicated commission, empirical data on backwardness, and adhering to the 50% total reservation cap.
The minister for local bodies, Jhabar Singh Kharra, said, "The state government is fully prepared to conduct the elections, but the report of the OBC commission is mandatory as per the Supreme Court ruling. We are waiting for the report of the OBC commission. If the Congress is ready to hold the election without this reservation, it should clear its stand in writing.”
While the opposition Congress is accusing the government of deliberately avoiding the elections. State Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra said,"the "The government has no intention of conducting elections, as it is plagued by the fear of defeat in the civic body and Panchayat polls. The government is deliberately withholding resources from the OBC Commission, consequently hindering its ability to collect data regarding the OBC category.”
He said that the Congress party intends to approach the Supreme Court regarding this matter. Meanwhile, in protest against the state government's deliberate delay in holding civic body and Panchayat elections, a month-long agitation across all districts has been launched today.
The tenure of Rajasthan's 29 District Councils, 327 Panchayat Samitis, and all 14,403 Gram Panchayats has been completed, while the tenure of the remaining 12 District Councils and 130 Panchayat Samitis will end by December this year. Likewise, the tenure of 309 urban local bodies is also completed.
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The state government intended to hold all the elections under the “One State, One Election” formula, so instead of holding elections, the government appointed administrators in the bodies where the tenure was completed.
In this matter, the Supreme Court had directed the state government to complete the Panchayat election process by April 15, 2026. However, given the manner in which the commission's tenure has now been extended, it appears unlikely that the civic body and Panchayat elections will be held before October 2026.