Lucknow: Taking serious note of the delay in holding three-tier Panchayat Polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court has directed the State Election Commission and the Yogi Adityanath government to hold elections by April 30.
Passing judgment on a verdict filed by one Vinod Upadhyaya, over inordinate delay in holding Pancjayat polls, a two-member bench comprising Justice M.N. Bhandari and Justice R.R. Agarwal rejected the state election commission's schedule for holding polls in May.
The commission pleaded before the court that the delay in holding polls was because the state government was yet to notify reserved seats. It said that the commission will take 45 days to hold three-tier elections after the state government notifies reserve seats.
The court pointed that ideally the polls should have been held before January 13, but more delay is unacceptable as per the law. The petitioner too had prayed that delay was violation of Article 243 (E) of the Constitution.
Rejecting arguments of the commission and state government, the two-member bench directed them to hold Pradhan election by April 30 and Zila Panchayat and Block Pramukh by May 15.
The court has also set a deadline for the state government to notify reserved seats by March 17.
