BHUBANESWAR: Panchayat elections will be held in 6,794 gram panchayats of the State, barring seven which have been included in notified area councils (NACs), the State Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said.
The elections are likely to be held early next year. Secretary of the poll panel Rabindra Nath Sahu said, as many as 91,916 wards excluding 111 of the seven GPs will go to the polls this time. He informed that the State government has submitted the final reservation list for the polls to the SEC. As per the list, out of the 853 zilla parishad (ZP) member seats, 44.9 per cent is meant for general category while the rest 55.1 is reserved for other categories.
Going by the numbers, 64 seats have been reserved for scheduled castes (SC) while 84 seats reserved for SC women. Similarly, 100 seats have been reserved for STs and 118 seats have been set aside for women. For backward class candidates (BCCs), 49 seats have been reserved while 55 seats have been reserved for BCC women. The panel has earmarked 207 seats for general caste male candidates and 176 for general caste women.
According to the SEC notification, out of the 6,794 posts of sarpanch, 426 and 525 posts have been reserved for SC and SC women respectively. Similarly, 1,237 and 1,376 sarpanch posts have been reserved for ST candidates and ST women respectively. While 349 posts have been reserved for BCCs, 429 posts have been kept aside for BCC women candidates. In the general category, 1,170 posts have been kept aside for women.
Out of the 6,793 panchayat samiti member seats, 515 and 682 have been reserved for SC and SC women, 824 and 1033 for ST candidates and ST women, 395 seats have been kept aside for BCC and 518 for BCC women. General category will have 1,521 seats while 1305 seats have been reserved for women. Besides, reservation for 91,916 wards has been finalised in a proportionate manner.
Sahu said that the seven gram panchayats, where panchayat elections will not be held, are in three districts. The GPs are four in Remuna NAC in Balasore district, two from Odagaon NAC in Nayagarh and one from Bijepur NAC in Bargarh. Elections were held in 6,801 panchayats and 92,027 wards in 2017.