Ahead of the Panchayat Elections in Odisha, the State government on Saturday released the draft reservation list for the post of Zilla Parishad president in all the 30 districts of the State.
Amid a state-wide backlash over inadequate representation of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for the other posts in the three-tier elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions, the Odisha government has allotted four (4) Zilla Parishad president posts to OBCs.
As per the draft list published by the government, the four districts reserved for OBCs include Angul, Keonjhar, Khordha and Gajapati.
Similarly, Zilla Parishad president posts of 12 districts namely Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Ganjam, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Nuapada, Puri, Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Sambalpur will see candidates from unreserved categories fight it out to the top most tier of the Panchayat Raj system.
The government has notified 4 districts-- Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur and Bhadrak-- for Scheduled Caste category.
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Likewise, the remaining 10 districts Kandhamal, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Sundargarh and Sonepur have been booked for Scheduled Tribe candidates.
The State government has reserved 50% of all ZP chief posts for women candidates.
As per the modalities for reservation of seats and offices of the Panchayati Raj institutions, candidates can file objections against the allotment of reservations by October 24 (5 pm) by mailing online over (dir-pr.od@gov.in or prsec.or@nic.in).
The list will be finalized on October 29 and the final list will be submitted before the State Election Commission (SEC) on October 30.