India, Aug. 6 -- The elections to urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions have been announced after a long delay. The elections were to be held by April 15, 2026. However, the state government requested postponement of elections citing non availability of the OBC commission report, staff shortages and other reasons. The high court then set a deadline for November 26, 2026 to conduct the panchayat and municipal elections. Speaking to Urvashi Dev Rawal, state election commissioner Rajeshwar Singh (Retd IAS) sets the record straight on issues around the local body elections. Excerpts from the interview: Unnecessary confusion was created over the election. Conducting the elections on time is the joint responsibility of the state government and the State Election Commission. Till the state government does not do its part, the State Election Commission cannot step in. The creation of panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies, the ward delimitation, the reservation of posts for various categories like SCs, STs, OBCs, and women is in the purview of the state government. After this is done, the role of the State Election Commission starts. Notification of the election, code of conduct, management and free and fair conduct of elections and declaration of results is the purview of the election commission. The elections were originally scheduled to be held by April 15, 2026. The OBC commission was set-up on May 9, 2025. But it did not give its report on reservation. In the meantime, the high court gave a decision that if the OBC report is not received, the election can go ahead with OBC seats being taken in general category, as per an earlier supreme court decision. The high court set a deadline of July 31, 2026 for conduct of the election. The State Election Commission wrote six letters, three to the panchayati raj secretary and three to the local self government secretary requesting to provide the reservation for various categories. They told us they will provide the details as soon as the OBC commission submits its report. In the meantime, a petition was filed in the high court which has given a timeline. The elections will be completed by November 15. The State Election Commission is dependent on local human resources provided by the state government. The municipal elections are being held in two phases and panchayat elections are being held in four phases. For one phase of municipal elections, we need 60,000 state government employees and 50,000 police personnel. For one phase of panchayati raj elections, we need 80,000 government employees and 70,000 police personnel. We have created the election plan in consultation with government officials, and phases have been decided keeping in mind the security availability of human resources and law and order requirements. This is a small election but it is an intensive and detailed exercise. A municipal election is for one post and panchayat election is for four posts. A polling party stays in a village for four days for conduct of the panchayati raj elections. The first day they make arrangements. On the second day, the zila parishad and panchayat samiti member elections are held through EVM machines. On the third day, the sarpanch and ward panch elections will be held through ballot boxes and on the fourth day, the election for the deputy sarpanch will be held. In several areas, law and order can become a big issue with tensions flaring up on caste and communal issues. We have asked district collectors to provide us a list of sensitive and critical booths where adequate security has to be deployed. This time the spending limit has been increased for all contesting candidates so it is more suitable. The limit for sarpanch candidates has been doubled from Rs.50,000 to Rs1 lakh, panchayat samiti contestants from Rs.75,000 to Rs.1.5 lakh, and zila parishad candidates from Rs.1.5 to Rs.3 lakh. For municipal corporation contestants, the limit has been hiked from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.3.5 lakh, while for municipal council the ceiling has been raised from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh and for municipality elections, the limit has been doubled from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.2 lakh....