The Odisha government on Saturday issued Gazette notifications calling upon the three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the State to elect their members. The 3-tier system of Panchayati Raj consists Zilla Parishad at the district level (ZP ), Panchayat Samiti at the block level (PS) and Grama Panchayat at the village level (GP).
“The State Government do hereby call upon the Parishad Constituencies of all the Zilla Parishads in the State to elect members of the Parishads in accordance with the provisions of the Odisha Zilla Parishad Act, 1991 (Odisha Act 17 of 1991) and the rules made thereunder,” read a gazette notification issued by the Panchayati raj and drinking water department.
Similarly, the State government also called upon the Samiti Constituencies of all the Panchayat Samities in the State to elect members of the Samiti in accordance with the provisions of the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959 (Odisha Act 7 of 1960) and the rules made thereunder.
Moreover, the State government called upon all the Gram Panchayats of the State to elect their Ward Members and Sarpanches in accordance with the provisions of the aforesaid Act and the rules made thereunder except Dhinkia Grama Panchayat under Erasama Block of Jagatsinghpur district.
After the publication of the gazette notification, the State government is likely to announce the date of the forthcoming panchayat elections at any moment following the conclusion of the all-party meeting.
Earlier in the day, the Odisha government released the final list of reservations for the post of Zilla Parishad chairman in all the 30 districts. As per a notification issued by the Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department, as many as 15 posts out of the 30 Zilla Parishad chairman posts have been reserved for women candidates.
Moreover, the State Election Commission (SEC) of Odisha, Aditya Prasad Padhi today held a high-level meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the State in view of the forthcoming Panchayat polls.