The constitutional requirement to conduct local body elections before the expiry of their term is mandatory; administrative delays caused by ongoing delimitation, lack of empirical reservation data, or seasonal conditions do not justify indefinite extensions of the election timeline.

Order :

Sanjeet Purohit, J.

1. D.B. Misc. Application No. 182/2026 by the State Election Commission, Rajasthan; D.B. Misc. Application No. 170/2026 by the Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Rajasthan; and D.B. Misc. Application No. 171/2026 by Local Self Government Department, Government of Rajasthan, have been filed with common prayer, seeking extension of suitable time for holding and completing the elections of Rural and Urban Local Bodies in the State of Rajasthan.

2. In essence, it is contended that in spite of making all possible efforts, owing to unavoidable circumstances, due compliance of directions contained in para 224.7 of the judgment dated 14.11.2025 passed by this Court in a batch of writ petitions led by D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7718/2025, Sheela Kumari vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. for conducting and completing the elections of the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) as well as the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) within the prescribed time period, could not made and thus, respective respondent Departments and the State Election Commission, Rajasthan have prayed for extension of the time period.

3. Arguing on behalf of State of Rajasthan, learned Advocate General - Mr. Rajendra Prasad, contended that while deciding a batch of writ petitions challenging delimitation exercise undertaken by the State of Rajasthan in relation to various Gram Panchayats as well as Municipal Bodies, along with writ petitions seeking directions for conduct of elections of RLBs and ULBs, this Court, vide judgment dated 14.11.2025, directed the State authorities to complete the exercise of delimitation on or before 31.12.2025 and thereafter to conduct and complete elections of all local self-government bodies, i.e. Panchayats as well as Municipalities, simultaneously, on or before 15.04.2026.

Extension of the time limit as prescribed in para 224.7 of the judgment dated 14.11.2025 has been sought while narrating various subsequent facts, explained in applications i.e. Writ Misc. Application Nos. 170/2026 and 171/2026, which are briefly stated as under :

3.1 It is contended that, in pursuance of directions issued by this Court vide judgment dated 14.11.2025, delimitation notifications in relation to various Panchayats were issued on 19.11.2025, 20.11.2025 and 21.11.2025. Pursuant to said notifications, several representations/objections were received and after considering and deciding the same, the entire exercise of delimitation of the Panchayati Raj Institutions was completed by issuance of final notifications dated 28.12.2025 and 31.12.2025.

3.2 After completion of said process of delimitation, directions were issued on 25.01.2026 for publication of wards. Simultaneously, the State Election Commission issued orders on 31.12.2025 for preparation of the voter lists of the Panchayati Raj Institutions and the final voter lists were published on 25.02.2026. 3.3 Learned Advocate General however contended that the process of delimitation of the ULBs was affected due to adjudication made in Part – C and directions contained in para224.3 of the judgment dated 14.11.2025.

3.4 It is stated that out of total 309 ULBs, delimitation of internal wards was done / changed in relation to 113 ULBs, out of which delimitation notifications in respect of 03 ULBs were challenged and delimitation notifications pertaining to said