Process to elect zila, kshetra panchayat chiefs in UP to be completed by July 12: Govt

LUCKNOW : The UP government informed the high court that the process for the indirect elections to the posts of zila panchayat and the kshetra panchayat chiefs will be completed by July 12, people aware of the issue disclosed. In the first phase, the election to the posts of zila panchayat chairpersons will be held around June 20 while voting for the post of kshetra panchayat/ block heads will take place in the second week of July, as per the plan chalked out by the state government.

“In an affidavit filed with the Allahabad high court last week, the state government had said that indirect elections to elect new zila panchayat and kshetra panchayat chairpersons will be held and completed by July 12,” said a senior official.

“The notification for the polls to the post of zila panchayat chiefs may be issued by the end of next week and the poll process will take 15 days to complete after issuance of the notification by the State Election Commission (SEC),” he added.

In an order passed on February 4, the high court had directed the government and the State Election Commission to complete direct elections to all the panchayats by April 30 and complete indirect elections thereafter within 15 days, that is, by May 15, 2021.

Though the direct elections to the posts of pradhans, village ward members, kshetra panchayat members and zila panchayat members were held within the deadline set by the court, the government sought to delay the indirect polls supposedly due to the devastating second wave of the Covid pandemic. “As the HC had set the deadline for holding indirect polls too, we had to file an affidavit in the court, informing it about the reasons why it was not possible to hold polls by May 15,” the official said.

Panchayati raj minister Bhupendra Singh said the government was ready to hold indirect panchayat elections now when the pandemic had subsided. “We hope to complete the exercise for the indirect polls electing new zila panchayat and kshetra panchayat chairpersons by June-end or early July,” he hinted. Now, 75,852 kshetra panchayat members and 3,050 zila panchayat members elected in the recent direct polls will vote to elect 75 zila panchayat and 826 kshetra panchayat chiefs, respectively, in the final round of three-tier panchayat polls.

Political parties have high stakes in the indirect elections and they are busy setting their electoral arithmetic right to ensure victory of candidates to be backed by them.