BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Friday notified the final list of reservations for the Zilla Parishad (ZP) president posts ahead of the panchayat elections to be held around February next year. As many as 15 posts out of the 30 have been reserved for women candidates.
As per a notification issued by the Panchayatiraj department, posts of ZP presidents in four districts - Angul, Khurda, Nayagarh and Sonepur - have been reserved for other backward class (OBC) candidates.
Similarly, president posts in four districts - Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Jajpur - have been reserved for scheduled caste candidates. Posts in 10 districts - Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Sundargarh - have been reserved for scheduled tribe candidates.
According to the notification, president posts in Kendrapara, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Puri, Balangir and Sambalpur district have been earmarked for male candidates of general caste. Kalahandi, Ganjam, Dhenkanal, Nuapada, Bargarh and Boudh will remain reserved for women candidates of general caste.
While Angul and Khurda seats will remain reserved for OBC women candidates, Cuttack and Bhadrak seats have been earmarked for SC women candidates. Similarly, Keonjhar, Koraput, Gajapati, Malkangiri and Rayagada seats have been reserved for ST women candidates. The final list of seat reservations has been prepared after disposal of claims and objections by the government following publication of a draft list on October 16.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has described the reservation of seats for panchayat polls as faulty. OPCC spokesperson Sudarshan Das said that the reservation of seats have been done taking the winnability of BJD candidates into account.