Allahabad High Court directs UP Gram Panchayat elections to be held within three months

By Gaurav Arora
Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) [India] October 14 (ANI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday called for the conduct of state Gram Panchayat elections within three months following the expiry of the tenure of sitting representatives.
The court ruled that outgoing Gram Pradhans will function as administrators during the interim period until the elections are held.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Garima Prasad delivered the verdict after reserving its judgment earlier in the day following a hearing, which lasted nearly three hours on the appointment of administrators post the expiration of Gram Panchayat terms.
The Bench was adjudicating a cluster of petitions challenging the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government's May 25 decision to designate village heads as administrators.
The State of Uttar Pradesh, the Director of Panchayati Raj, the District Magistrate, the Chief Development Officer, and the District Panchayati Raj Officer were named as respondents in the proceedings. 
Earlier, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on October 12 launched a sharp attack against the ruling BJP, alleging widespread electoral fraud across Uttar Pradesh. Citing deep irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, Yadav claimed that the integrity of the voter list has been severely compromised.
"There are lakhs of fake votes in Uttar Pradesh. A single person has as many as ten votes registered. We have identified such fake votes in several assembly constituencies... we will release the list. This implies there are irregularities in the SIR. Crores of rupees were spent on the SIR, and time was wasted... we will not let the BJP get away with this fraud across the 403 seats," Yadav told reporters. 
Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav's remarks came while paying tributes to socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia on his death anniversary in Lucknow. Surrounded by party leaders, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister reaffirmed his party's commitment to socialist ideology and announced a renewed focus on translating those principles into grassroots reality. (ANI)