Rajbhar says poll dates will follow Uttar Pradesh OBC report

Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said the state government is prepared to hold panchayat elections and will announce dates after it receives a report on reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The schedule is therefore linked, in Rajbhar’s account, to the commission’s report; he said the commission expects to submit it within a month.

Rajbhar said ballot papers had already reached the districts. He also said the government was ready to proceed with the elections, while describing the report as the outstanding step before it sets dates. The two reports agree on that sequence: commission report first, announcement of dates afterward.

The commission’s remit is to determine OBC reservations in the panchayat polls. Hindustan Times identifies it as the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission and says it was formed to assess reservations in three-tier panchayat institutions.

Bhaskar English reports Rajbhar’s account that the state government established the commission on the Supreme Court’s orders. Hindustan Times adds that retired Allahabad high court Justice Ram Avtar Singh chairs it. Rajbhar also said the Allahabad High Court had ordered the elections to be held within three months.

National Herald’s headline likewise reports that the court ordered Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls within that period. Hindustan Times describes the court as directing the State Election Commission to hold the elections, while Bhaskar English presents Rajbhar’s account as an order to the government.

Those descriptions identify different recipients of the direction; the reports do not resolve that distinction. The three-month period is presented as Rajbhar’s account in Bhaskar English, while National Herald’s headline independently reports the court order and timeframe.

In remarks reported by Hindustan Times, Rajbhar said that once the report arrives, the government would announce the dates and the election process would proceed. He also said there would be no need to approach the Supreme Court and that the government was not backing away from the elections.

Bhaskar English independently reports his statements that the government was ready to comply with the High Court’s order and would not withdraw from the polls. These are Rajbhar’s statements about the government’s position and intended course; the reports do not establish that election dates have been announced.

The immediate procedural steps now described are the commission’s submission of its report and the government’s subsequent announcement of dates. Rajbhar’s account puts the report’s expected delivery within a month, and the court timetable he cited sets a separate three-month period for holding the polls.

Ballot papers reaching districts indicate preparation, but the reports do not say that voting has begun or provide a polling date. Hindustan Times also reports that 76 leaders and workers from other parties joined Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party at a membership event in Lucknow. That party activity was separate from the election timetable.

The central account remains Rajbhar’s assurance that the government is prepared to hold the polls, with the OBC reservation report preceding the announcement of dates.