UP Panchayat Elections 2021: Four-phased schedule announced, voting to begin on April 15

First phase of the panchayat elections to be held on April 15, second phase on April 19, third phase on April 26, and fourth phase on April 29. Results will be announced on May 2.

Gaon Connection
| Updated: March 26th, 2021

The panchayati raj system is also known as chhoti sansad or a mini-parliament owing to its importance in rural governance and administration.

The Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission has announced the dates for the upcoming rural body elections (panchayat polls) on Friday. The elections shall be conducted in four phases — commencing on April 15 — and the results will be announced on May 2.

The dates for the four phases are — first phase on April 15, second phase on April 19, third phase on April 26, and fourth phase on April 29.

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The announcement came close on the heels of an order issued by the Allahabad High Court on March 14, in which it directed the state government to consider 2015 as the base year while applying reservation rules in the panchayat polls. It also asked the government to wrap up the elections by May 25.

The rural body election is crucial as it is being held merely a year ahead of the state assembly elections, and is especially significant for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the wake of the recent farmers’ protest over the new farm laws. 

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As per the notification, the nomination for the first phase would begin on April 4 and the date of withdrawal is April 7. The distribution of nomination papers at the district level would start from March 27.

The districts where that will vote in the first phase on April 15 are Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Rampur, Bareilly, hathras, Agra, Kanpur city, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Sant Kabir nagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi.

The districts which would go to the polls in the second phase on April 19 are Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Gauram Budh Nagar, Bijnore, Amroha, Badaun, Etah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Khiri, Sultanpur, Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasi and Azamgarh. Nomination here would start from April 7, the date of withdrawal would be April 11 and the polling would take place on April 19.

The districts in third phase on April 26 include Shamli, Meerut, Muradabad, Pilibhit, Kansgaj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hameerpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Sidharthanagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia. The nomination in these districts will start from April 13, the date of withdrawal is April 18 and people will be voting on April 26.

The districts to the poll last on April 29 include Bulandshahr, Hapur, Sambhal, Shahjahanpr, Aligarh, Mathura, Farukhabad, Banda, Kaushambi, Sitapur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Basti, Kushinagar, Ghazipur, Sonbhadra and Mau. The nomination for this phase would start from April 17, the date of withdrawal is April 21 and polling would take place on April 29.

Uttar Pradesh Panchayat elections at a glance

The panchayati raj system is also known as chhoti sansad or a mini-parliament owing to its importance in rural governance and administration. In these elections, citizens elect  gram pradhans (village heads), zilla panchayat members, gram panchayat members, and local panchayat members.

The zilla panchayat members who are directly elected by the public in turn elect the zilla panchayat chairperson. So, the elections in rural India are a mix of direct and indirect democracy in the electoral sense.

This time, Uttar Pradesh will elect 8,69,814 people’s representatives, with  826 block pramukh (block head) and 75 zilla panchayat chairpersons. In addition, according to the state’s Panchayati Raj Department, 7,31,813 gram panchayat members, 75,855 local panchayat members, 58,194 pradhan, and 3051 zilla panchayat members will also be elected.

Read this report in Hindi