Panchayat polls to be held before Dec 2026: SEC

The State Election Commission plans panchayat polls by December 2026, using multi-post EVMs and completing seat reservations by early next year.

The State Election Commission ( SEC) will hold the next panchayat polls before December, 2026 and also complete the exercise of reservation of posts through rotation by early next year, as per a statement issued by the state poll panel on Wednesday.

Panchayat polls to be held before Dec 2026: SEC

In the press statement, the SEC said the last panchayat election for appointment of new representatives of three tier rural local bodies as well as gram kachaharies ( village courts) were held in 2021 and the oath taking ceremonies were held by January 2022. “This time, the panchayat polls would be held before December 2026,” the SEC statement said.

There are around 2.46 lakh posts in the three tier PRIs.

More importantly, the SEC said that multi post electronic voting machines (EVMs) would be used for the coming panchayat polls to fill up the vacancies of mukhiyas, gram panchayat members, panchayat samiti members, district board members ,gram kachahari panch and sarpanch. The state government has already taken a decision in this regard, the statement said.

Sources said the SEC has already requisitioned for 32,000 multi-purpose EVMs from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited( ECIL), which would be delivered next year ahead of the polls . The multi purpose EVMs would have six ballot units ( BUs) and one control unit( CUs) and also come equipped with advanced technology .

Further, the SEC said that the exercise to reserve seats for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, extremely backward classes and women through rotation for all the six posts in the PRIs would be done before the panchayat polls begin tentatively around September next year. “ There is provision to reserve seats through rotation after two successive panchayat polls as per the rules. In 2016, the reservation of posts was done and the election of 2016 and 2021 was held on that basis,” the statement said.