Gram Panchayat elections announced in Gujarat

The Gujarat State Election Commission has announced the Gram Panchayat elections in 8,326 villages across the state  with 27 per cent OBC reservation, to elect sarpanches as well as panchayat members. State Election Commissioner Dr. S Murali Krishna announced this in a press conference in Gandhinagar today. The voting will be held through ballot papers. The official notification will be released on June 2, 2025. The last date to file nominations is June 9. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on June 10. Candidates can withdraw their names by June 11. Voting will take place on June 22 from 7 am to 6 pm, and the votes will be counted on June 25.
Of these 8,326 gram panchayats, 4,688 are going for general or mid-term elections, while bypolls would be held in 3,638 village councils, the SEC said in a release in Gandhinagar. Candidates in panchayat elections stand individually and not on party tickets though they may be affiliated to political outfits otherwise. While polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm on June 22, counting of votes will be undertaken on June 25. The last date to file nominations is June 9, while the same for withdrawal of candidature is June 11, said the release.
In August 2023, the BJP government had announced a 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on the basis of a Justice Jhaveri Commission report. Earlier, OBC reservation in local bodies was 10 per cent in Gujarat. The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent) in local bodies remained unchanged and there has been no breach of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.
The government had set up a commission, headed by Gujarat High Court Judge KS Jhaveri (retired), in July 2022 to collect and analyse data about the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies, an exercise necessary for fixing the OBC quota in elections for institutions of local self-governance. The commission was formed after the Supreme Court mandated that reservation for OBCs should be on the basis of their population. The Supreme Court had earlier directed that seats to be reserved for OBC candidates in each local body will be decided as per recommendations of a commission following a detailed study.

(State Correspondent)