With the end of the five-year term of the elected gram pradhans on Friday, the state government has appointed administrators replacing them in as many as 58,656 village panchayats.
The elections to the three-tier panchayat institutions are slated to be held next year and the process is targeted to be completed by the end of March next year.
Official sources said here on Saturday that assistant development officers in the block development office had been appointed as administrators in all the village panchayats while the government had removed the digital signatures of the pradhans from the portal of the e-Gram Swaraj to prevent any fraud.
Meanwhile, the UP State Election Commission is preparing for the panchayat polls and there is a possibility that the elections could be held in four phases.
The elections of gram pradhans, members of gram sabhas, and members of kshetra panchayats and members district panchayats will be held simultaneously.
Presently, the process of revision of electoral rolls is underway and the final voter list is expected to be published next month.
The process of delimitation and reservation of wards for the SCs and OBCs will be completed by the third week of February next year.
The State Election Commission is likely to issue the election notification as soon as the reservation of wards is completed.
The terms of gram panchayats ended on December 25, while the terms of kshetra panchayats and district panchayat members will end on January 14 and March 18 next yead respectively.
The official sources said the preparations for the panchayat elections were underway on a war footing Unlike the last election in 2016, this time the election of gram pradhans, members of gram sabhas, kshetra panchayats and district panchayats will be held simultaneously.