Jaipur: The state govt’s decision to postpone the reservation lottery for wards under Panchayati Raj institutions has drawn criticism from former Congress MLA Sanyam Lodha, who said Monday that he would file a contempt petition against the state govt over the matter.Accusing the govt of violating a Rajasthan High Court order directing it to complete the lottery process by Aug 15, Lodha alleged that the decision to postpone it was contrary to the court’s directives and would further delay elections to Panchayati Raj institutions.The reservation lottery – a randomised draw system used to reserve seats for categories such as SC, ST, OBC and women – was earlier scheduled for Aug 17 and 18. It has now been postponed to Sept 17 and 18 at the district and sub-divisional levels, respectively.According to the timeline submitted before the high court earlier, the OBC Commission for Political Reservation was to submit its report by Aug 5, after which the state govt was expected to complete the reservation lottery in around 10 days.The court had, therefore, recorded that the lottery exercise was to be completed by Aug 15, following which the State Election Commission (SEC) could conduct local body elections.It had, moreover, specifically directed that the OBC Commission report be submitted without further delay by Aug 5, observing that a week or eight days thereafter would be sufficient to complete the lottery process.The court had gone so far as to say that the lottery process should be completed even if the OBC Commission’s report was not received, so that there could be no further delay in conducting the long-pending local body elections.The state govt’s postponement of the lottery is now expected to push back the election schedule for Panchayati Raj institutions.State election commissioner Rajeshwar Singh has maintained that conducting the reservation lottery is the responsibility of the state govt, and that the SEC could announce election dates only after receiving the results of the lottery.“Without the lottery, the SEC cannot announce the elections. The responsibility for drawing the lottery lies with the state govt,” Singh said. He added that the commission will conduct elections to all local bodies before Nov 15.
