Schedule release expected

The Rajasthan State Election Commission is poised to disclose the Panchayati Raj election timetable on Saturday, 3 October, at 3 p.m. The proclamation will activate the Model Code of Conduct throughout the state’s village seats.

Four‑phase voting plan

While officials have hinted at a four‑stage rollout, the exact dates for each phase will be confirmed only after the formal release.

Timeline for nominations

District collectors are slated to issue election notifications around 5‑6 October. Following the issuance, the nomination window is expected to open shortly thereafter. The complete calendar—covering filing of nominations, scrutiny, withdrawals and the actual poll dates—will be detailed in the commission’s official programme.

Voting methods

Different offices will be filled using varied voting mechanisms. Sarpanches and ward‑panch members will vote on paper ballots, whereas Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad representatives will be elected through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The statutory 50 % reservation for women remains applicable across all Panchayati Raj bodies.

Magnitude of the exercise

Rajasthan will elect close to 1.69 lakh representatives. The breakdown includes:

  • 1,403 members of Zila Parishads
  • 8,245 Panchayat Samiti members
  • 14,403 gram panchayats covering sarpanch and ward‑panch posts
  • Approximately 1.30 lakh ward‑panch positions
  • 41 Zila Pramukh and 457 Panchayat Samiti Pradhan seats

Among the top‑tier roles, 20 Zila Pramukh and 221 Pradhan seats are earmarked for women.

Reservation overview

Women’s reservation continues at 50 % for every level. The allocations are as follows:

  • Roughly 7,200 sarpanch seats reserved for women
  • About 65,000 ward‑panch seats reserved for women

Category‑wise reservation for sarpanch posts:

  • 3,058 seats for Scheduled Tribes (ST)
  • 2,493 seats for Scheduled Castes (SC)
  • 1,961 seats for Other Backward Classes (OBC)

For ward‑panch positions, the reservation distribution includes:

  • 21,962 seats for SC
  • 19,117 seats for ST
  • ≈15,000 seats for OBC

In the districts of Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh and Salumbar, all 1,253 sarpanch seats are reserved for the ST category.

What follows

The definitive polling dates and phase‑wise schedule will become official once the Rajasthan State Election Commission publishes the full election timetable.