Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government has proposed 50 per cent of reservation of seats for women and 13.33 per cent of seats for the candidates belonging to Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the ensuing elections for the post of Zilla Parishad president under the three-tire Panchayati Raj system, according to an official notification.
The Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department Saturday issued a draft notification making such provisions. The department has also sought objections or suggestions online with regard to allotment of reservations by 5 PM of October 24 (5 pm) over: dir-pr.od@gov.in or prsec.or@nic.in
The state government’s draft notification making reservation for the OBCs came amidst a row over the alleged inadequate quota for the Other Backward Caste citizens in proportionate of their population ratio in the state.
Of the 30 Zilla Parishad (ZP) president posts, 4 each seats are reserved for OBCs and Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10 for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 12 seats to remain unreserved, the notification said.
The four districts ZP president posts reserved for OBCs are: Angul (W), Khurda (W), Gajapati and Keonjhar. This is 13.33 per cent of reservation for the OBCs.
The notification said that ZP presidents posts will remain reserved for SCs in 4 districts such as Cuttack (W), Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur and Bhadrak (W). The ratio of reservation for SCs also stands at 13.33 %.
Similarly, the State Government has also reserved 10 districts for Scheduled Tribes candidates in the draft notification for ZP elections. They are: Balasore, Koraput (W), Kandhamal, Nayagarh (W), Nabarangapur (W), Malkangiri (W), Mayurbhanj, Rayagada (W), Sundergarh and Subarnapur (W). The ratio of reservation for ST is 33.33 %.
The ZP posts in 12 other districts have been grouped under unreserved category. Candidates from unserved classes may contest for ZP posts in Kalahandi (W), Kendrapara, Ganjam (W), Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal (W), Deogarh, Nuapada (W), Puri, Bargarh (W), Bolangir, Boudh (W) and Sambalpur. The ratio of unreserved seats stands at 40 per cent.
The seats proposed to remain reserved for women are: Angul (OBC), Cuttack (SC), Kalahandi (UR), Koraput (ST), Khurda (OBC), Ganjan (UR), Dhenkanal (UR), Nayagarh (ST), Nuapada (UR), Bargarh (UR), Boudh (UR), Bhadrak (SC), Malkangiri (ST), Rayagada (ST) and Subarnapur (ST).
The notification also specifies that 50 per cent of ZP chief posts shall be reserved for women candidates. The list would be finalised on October 29 and submitted to the State Election Commission the following day, the notification said.