Rajasthan High Court has adopted a strict stance regarding the delay in Panchayat and civic elections in Rajasthan. The court has issued contempt notice to the State Election Commission, State Election Commissioner Rajeshwar Singh and the Commission Secretary and sought their reply within four weeks. This action was taken during the hearing on the contempt petition filed by former MLA Sanyam Lodha.
During the hearing, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice SP Sharma clearly asked the Election Commission as to how despite the time limit already fixed by the High Court, the schedule of revision and final publication of voter lists was issued outside the prescribed limit. The court said that prima facie this order appears to be contrary to the earlier instructions of the court.
What did the petitioner’s lawyer say in the court?
Advocate Puneet Singhvi, on behalf of the petitioner, told the court that the state government and the Election Commission are deliberately working towards postponing the Panchayat and civic elections. He argued that the Commission has fixed the schedule of releasing the final voter list by April 22, whereas the High Court had clearly ordered to complete the election process by April 15, 2026. In such a situation, it is practically not possible to conduct elections within the stipulated time limit. This was termed as direct contempt of the court order.
Instructions to the Commission to reply within four weeks
During the hearing, Advocate General Rajendra Prasad, on behalf of the state government, informed the court that the government is going to submit a separate application to extend the election deadline. The court commented strongly on this and said that this is a later situation, but at present the question is that when the court’s time limit was clear, then how did the Election Commission release the program outside it. The court has directed the Commission to give a detailed reply on this point within four weeks. However, no separate notice has been issued to the state government at this stage.
Instructions were given for Panchayat elections till 15th April 2026
It is noteworthy that the Rajasthan High Court, while giving a simultaneous verdict on 439 petitions on 14 November 2025, had directed the state government to complete the delimitation process by 31 December 2025 and to conduct Panchayat and urban body elections by 15 April 2026. Later this order was challenged in the Supreme Court, where the apex court also insisted on holding timely elections.
Now after the latest strictness of the High Court, this matter is being considered very important at both political and administrative level. The path to elections in many panchayats and bodies of the state is already complicated due to OBC reservation and delimitation process. In such a situation, everyone’s eyes are fixed on the next hearing of the court and the reply of the Election Commission.