Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department has notified reservation guidelines for the upcoming Panchayat elections.
In a letter to all district Collectors, Ashok Meena, the Principal Secretary to the Government, laid out guidelines for reservation to the offices of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members for the general elections scheduled in 2022.
For non-scheduled areas, the total reservation of seats in favour of Scheduled caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Backward Class of Citizens (BCC) will be kept within 50 per cent of the total seats and the reservation for BCC alone, which can vary, will be kept within 27 per cent of the total seats.
Up to 27 per cent of total seats will be reserved in favour BCC category and whenever necessary, the quantum of reservation for BCC will be reduced to such extent as required to limit the total reservation of seats in favour of SC, ST and BCC taken together within 50% .
“Reservation of seats in the scheduled areas at every Panchayat will be in proportion to the population of the communities in that Panchayat for which the reservation is sought. Provided that the reservation for the Scheduled Tribes is not less than one-half of the total numbers of seats,” the letter stated.
