Morning Pulse: UP weighs a Supreme Court appeal as the OBC clock runs against the panchayat deadline

Overnight, the Allahabad High Court's order to hold panchayat polls within three months stopped being a ruling and became a choice for Lucknow. By this morning the state was reported to be weighing an appeal, the OBC commission's unfinished survey had become the real deadline, the opposition was claiming vindication, and Akhilesh Yadav had answered the BJP's Amethi show with a couplet. The thread from last night still holds: who decides when voters get their say, and how fast.

The order itself, as ANI reported via Asianet Newsable, came from a bench of Justices Ajit Kumar and Garima Prasad after a hearing of nearly three hours, and keeps outgoing village pradhans in charge as administrators until new polls are held. Late on Wednesday, Amar Ujala reported, citing high-ranking sources it did not name, that the state is likely to move the Supreme Court because polls within three months are not practical. The paper pointed to a crowded calendar: the second phase of the census runs from 1 December to 4 January, and the notification for the 2027 Assembly election is likely in the first week of January.

Panchayati Raj Minister OP Rajbhar told Amar Ujala that the government respects the court, but that he had not yet read the order and would decide the next step after studying it, cautioning against hasty conclusions. No appeal has been announced, and the government has not said which way it will go. The Supreme Court question we flagged last night remains open.

The real clock may be the OBC commission. According to Amar Ujala, the dedicated commission was set up on 20 May, its six-month term ends on 20 November, and it has so far visited 42 of the state's 75 districts. Its chairman, Ram Autar Singh, told the paper the commission would study the order, and could split into two or three teams to cover the remaining districts if asked to speed up. As reported last night, the court refused to make the polls wait for the commission, so the pace of its report now matters more than ever.

The opposition moved quickly to claim the order. UP Congress president Aradhana Mishra called it a victory for democracy and asked what the government had been afraid of, Patrika reported; she alleged the BJP had deliberately delayed the polls and also demanded reliable OBC data. SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan said the BJP keeps putting off the polls for fear of defeat and that they should have been held in May or June, according to a PTI report carried by ThePrint Hindi. The reports we read carried no BJP reply to these allegations.

Akhilesh's answer to the defections came late on Wednesday on social media, Navjivan and Deshbandhu reported. In a verse on betrayal, he said those who cheat their own tribe end up humiliated and used by others. He wrote that after years of waiting, the three MLAs had got nothing from their new party beyond a membership slip, and would remain 'pratikshaarthi', people waiting in line, rather than 'pratyashi', candidates. Neither report carried a response from the BJP or the three MLAs. We found no report of resignations or a petition to the Speaker over their seats.

In Varanasi, Yogi Adityanath's council-poll trip is doubling as preparation for a prime ministerial visit. ANI, via Asianet Newsable, reported that he inspected Namo Ghat ahead of an Indian Air Force air show from 22 to 25 October, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are expected to attend on the 25th. NewKerala reported that he prayed at the Kaal Bhairav and Kashi Vishwanath temples and inspected a Rs 100 crore Arvind Mills unit at Mirzamurad that the PM is scheduled to open the same day. That visit falls two days after the 23 October council polls.

In Lucknow, model Shraddha Dubey, named in a murder complaint over the death of 28-year-old restaurant owner Shiva Sharma, released a video on Wednesday night saying he died by suicide and that she wants to give police a statement, NewsX and The Sandesh Wahak reported. Sharma died on 9 October after a fall from a fourth-floor flat; his mother accuses Dubey and others of killing him. NewsX said police have not established how he fell; The Sandesh Wahak reported that 10 police teams are looking for her. The allegations are unproven.

Elsewhere, we found no report of an arrest in the Muzaffarnagar priest killing, and sentencing in Meerut's snakebite murder case is still due on Friday.