With Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh slated for April-May 2026, a key decision is brewing that could shape the political landscape at the grassroots level — the selection of the base year for reservation rotation. The Panchayati Raj Department is expected to send a formal proposal to the state cabinet by the end of July, which will determine how thousands of local leadership seats are allocated across social categories.

The selection of the base year is more than just a technicality — it directly affects who gets to contest reserved posts. Typically, seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in a base year are not reserved for the same category in the next election, to ensure rotational representation. In the 2021 Panchayat elections, 2015 was used as the base year. Now, officials are debating whether to use 2021, 2015, or possibly an earlier cycle for the 2026 elections.

As per the reservation formula, rotation follows a set order — ST women, ST, SC women, SC, OBC women, OBC, and then general category women. The caste-based reservation percentages remain based on the 2011 Census data, but the geographical distribution of those reservations depends entirely on the base year.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, has a massive three-tier Panchayati Raj system consisting of:

75 District Panchayats

826 Kshetra Panchayats

57,691 Gram Panchayats

Based on current estimates and population figures, reservation breakdowns are likely to look like this:

Approx. 300 Gram Pradhan posts for Scheduled Tribes

12,000+ Gram Pradhan posts for Scheduled Castes

Around 15,500 for Backward Classes

District Panchayat President posts: 16 for SC, 20 for OBC

Kshetra Panchayat Chiefs: 5 for ST, 171 for SC, and 223 for OBC

Women’s Reservation: One-third of all seats across all levels

In practice, this means officials will identify which villages and blocks did not receive reservation in the base year, and prioritize them for the 2026 polls. For example, if a Gram Panchayat had a Scheduled Caste reservation in 2015 but not in 2021, it may be eligible again depending on the chosen base.