Panchayat polls: Collectors asked to complete delimitation of wards, reservation by Aug 19

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) scheduled in February next year, the Odisha government has asked all district collectors to complete the process of delimitation of wards and reservation of seats by August 19 next.

In a letter to all district collectors, Deoranjan Kumar Singh, commissioner-cum-secretary, Panchayati Raj, has asked them to complete the process of delimitation of wards and reservation of seats within the time frame as per the provisions of the PRI Act and Rules.

The collectors have been asked to complete the process of delimitation of wards in Gram Panchayats (GPs), Panchayat Samitis (PSs) and Zilla Parishads (ZPs) in each constituency, including reservation of seats and offices of the GP and PS chairpersons, by August 19 and submit the final list to the State Election Commission (SEC) by August 23.

The entire process will be completed by September 15, the letter stated.

As per the guidelines framed by the state government, delimitation of wards and reservation of seats would be made as per the 2011 Census.

There will be 27 percent reservation of seats of GP ward members for Backward Class of Citizens (BCC) in each GP in the non-scheduled areas while reservation of seats and offices will be made for ST category in the Scheduled areas as per the provisions of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and relevant Panchayat laws.

While determining the reservation status of various seats/offices of PRIs for general election to the PRIs, 2017 , the principle of rotation in descending order shall be followed taking into account the reservation status of last PRI elections held in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012.

After reservation of seats of SC, ST and BCC categories, reservation for women will be made after arranging the ward/GP/constituencies in Odia alphabetical order, in the manner provided in Panchayat laws so that the total reservation for women will not be less than one-half of the total seats/offices.

While starting the process of reservation, the sequence—SC, ST, BCC and Unreserved—is to be adhered to according to law, the letter said.