Uttarakhand HC halts panchayat polls amid reservation row, questions 'timing'

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The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday stayed the panchayat elections in the State, raising concerns over the government’s new reservation rotation policy. The court found that the government’s recent changes violated existing rules and ignored previous court directions. It also questioned why election dates were announced while legal challenges to the reservation process were still pending, The Times of India reported.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra issued the order while hearing petitions filed by Ganesh Dutt Kandpal and others from Bageshwar district. The petitioners objected to the new reservation system introduced by the state government, calling it unfair and unlawful.

According to Ganesh Dutt Kandpal, the government’s decision to nullify the existing reservation rotation for the panchayat polls and bring about a new rotation from this year has prevented him from being able to contest the election. The petitioners said that the government made changes to the panchayat election rules on June 9, 2025. Just two days later, it cancelled the earlier reservation rotation and replaced it with a fresh one.

This new policy resulted in some seats being reserved for a fourth consecutive term, despite having already been reserved for three terms in a row. The petitioners argued that this denied opportunities to other eligible candidates who had been waiting for their chance to contest elections.

The petition was filed on Thursday and the Division Bench heard the matter on Friday. On Monday, the court stayed the election proceedings until the state furnishes the notification for the new rules for panchayat polls.

The court noted that the government should not have gone ahead with announcing election dates while the matter was still under judicial review. The state election commission had recently declared that the elections would be held in two phases, on July 10 and July 15, with results to be declared on July 19. Around 47.7 lakh voters across 12 districts were expected to participate.

The government’s legal team argued that similar matters were already under review by a single bench. However, the petitioners’ lawyer explained that the current case was different and specifically focused on the June 9 notification, which had been challenged before the division bench. The single bench was dealing with a separate order dated June 11.

Previously, the High Court had also questioned the appointment of outgoing panchayat leaders as administrators after their term had ended. It had instructed the government to issue a clear election schedule by May 20 and ensure voter list accuracy by removing duplicate or inflated entries.

In response to the current case, the government submitted an affidavit saying it was ready to conduct elections in 12 districts, excluding Haridwar, once it received clarity from the court. Both the panchayati raj secretary and the state’s advocate general confirmed their willingness to move ahead with the process.

“The High Court has currently stayed the panchayat elections as there is no gazette notification issued for Reservation Rules 2025 yet. In this connection, I have spoken to the Government Press, Roorkee, to make a copy of the gazette notification available to the state government, which can be submitted in the High Court to lift the stay,” Panchayati Raj Secretary Chandresh Kumar was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.