Election Commission of Uttarakhand notified the dates of Panchayat elections

Election Commission of Uttarakhand on 27 May 2014 notified the dates of Panchayat elections. The Panchayat elections will be held in three phases on 18 June, 21 June and 24 June 2014. As per the notification, the ballot count will happen on 27 June 2014.  

The Panchayat elections will be held in 7657 villages in 12 districts of Uttarakhand. The names of all the seats will be accepted between 2 June and 5 June 2014 and cancellation of nomination will be allowed till 10 June. With this notification, the model code of conduct has come into force in Uttarakhand.

The elections are being held to fill
• 7657 posts of pradhan and deputy pradhan         
• 49337 posts of gram panchayat members
• 3054 posts of block development committee members
• 12 zila panchayat chairman posts

Panchayat bodies of Uttarakhand had completed its tenure in September 2013 but the elections were not held then because of the unprecedented natural disaster caused in the State in June 2013.

The other reason for delay of the elections was the delay caused by the State government on the name of Lok Sabha elections. Due to this delay, the matter reached to Uttarakhand High Court and later to the Supreme Court (SC). SC ordered the State government to hold the panchayat elections post Lok Sabha elections in June 2014.

State Election Commissioner of Uttarakhand – Subhadran

Constitutional provision for Panchayat Elections
Article 40 of Directive Principle of State Policy of Constitution of India says that the State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Articles 243E and 243U (inserted with 73rd Amendment Act, 1993) of the Constitution provides for holding of regular elections to these Institutions every five years under State Election Commission.