The Uttarakhand government has once again postponed the long-awaited three-tier panchayat elections. With the tenure of gram, block, and district panchayats ending recently, the government has appointed administrators in all districts except Haridwar to ensure continuity in governance.
According to the official order, Assistant Development Officers (Panchayat) will act as administrators in gram panchayats, Sub-Divisional Magistrates in block panchayats, and District Magistrates in district panchayats. The terms of the panchayats officially ended on 27 May, 29 May, and 1 June respectively. However, elections could not be held on time.
The appointed administrators will oversee day-to-day operations either until new panchayats are elected or until 31 July 2025—whichever occurs earlier. The order, issued by departmental secretary Chandresh Kumar, also states that all previous conditions outlined in earlier notifications will remain valid.
A total of 7478 gram panchayats, 2941 block panchayats, and 12 district panchayats now have administrators in place. Following recent delimitation, the state is set to conduct elections in 7514 gram panchayats, 2936 block panchayats, 343 district panchayats, and 55,640 gram wards.
Speculation is rife that the government may be aligning these elections with the proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan to synchronize polls across levels. However, an official election schedule is still awaited.
