PATNA, Oct. 4 -- Bihar's panchayat polls to fill 253,000 posts slated for this year is likely to be delayed much longer than anticipated, with possibilities that the election in the three-tier panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) will be held late next year, according to leaders in know. The reason for the delay is attributed to the ongoing delimitation exercise of wards of the gram panchayats and other local self government bodies and subsequent exercise to be taken up for reservation of seats for other backward classes (OBCs) , women and scheduled caste/ tribe. "The delimitation exercise having begin September is likely to end in March or April next year. After that there will an exercise taken up for the reservation of seats. That is a mammoth exercise . Again, from July onwards, rainy season starts, which would extend till October. So, the panchayat election is only possible late next year," said an official handling the election-related matters in the government. It may be noted the State Election Commission(SEC) was scheduled to hold the elections from September onwards but protests from various panchayat representatives to hold election on basis of new delimitation of wards apparently prompted the government to approve the new exercise, which is being done on the basis of 2011 census. Delimitation exercise is the process for redrawing the geographical boundaries of the panchayat bodies as per population size based on the prescribed norms. As per rules, the delimitation has to be done after every census and was done in Bihar in 1993-94 on the basis of the 1991 census, officials said. In the next few panchayat polls, the delimitation of wards of 1993-94 was followed. The possibility of the panchayat polls getting inordinately delayed is also set to put a new challenge before the state government of running the three-tier panchayat bodies as the term of majority of the PRIs would end in January next year. There is all likelihood the PRIs, after expiry of their term of five years, would be run by advisory committees as like the government did in 2021 when elections were deferred due to Covid. The outgoing panchayat representatives- once the term of panchayat bodies expire- are made the members in the advisory committees along with government officials, as per rules. Panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash said the timeline for the polls would be decided by the SEC. "The delimitation exercise is being undertaken by the SEC and thereafter, reservation of seats would take place as per roster. The SEC will be able to disclose the time of panchayat polls," Prakash said. "The panchayati raj department is giving all support to the SEC in terms of manpower and funds," he added. Meanwhile, RJD's state spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan said the delay reflected how the government was not conforming to constitutional norms of holding the panchayat polls in a timely manner. "This is sheer violation of constitutional norms because panchayat polls have to be held every five years....