BHUBANESWAR: In a step forward towards conduct of urban body polls, the State government on Monday asked the district collectors to complete delimitation of wards and reservation of seats in municipalities and notified area councils (NACs) outside the scheduled area afresh keeping the Supreme Court orders on December 6 and 17, 2021 in view.
Delimitation of wards and reservation seats in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) will also be made afresh for the polls.
In a letter to the district collectors, director of municipal administration Sangramjit Nayak gave a dateline for completion of delimitation of wards and reservation of seats. Out of the 107 municipalities and NACs, 80 are outside the scheduled areas of the State.
The last date of receipt of objection and suggestions by the district magistrates on delimitation of wards and reservation of seats is January 12 while notification will be issued on January 13.
Appeal against the publication of notification on delimitation of wards and reservation of seats will be accepted between January 13 and 27. Hearing on the appeals will be held on January 28. The date of final notification to be made by the district magistrates will be intimated to them later.
The letter stated that as a part of the action plan it is necessary to divide the areas within municipalities and NACs situated outside the scheduled areas into wards and reserve seats for SC, ST and women. While dividing a municipal area into wards, equitable distribution of population, as published in 2011 census report, among different wards and compactness of area will be taken into consideration in accordance with the provisions of Odisha Municipal Act, 1950.
Besides, reservation of seats will also be made for SC, ST and women as per the provisions of the Act. In a separate letter to the municipal commissioners of BMC, CMC and BeMC, director, municipal administration said submission of information on division of wards and reservation of seats will have to be made by January 5. The draft notification inviting objections and suggestions on the proposed delimitation of wards and reservation of seats will be issued on January 7. The last date on receipt of objection/suggestion will be January 16.
The State government had on December 30 promulgated an ordinance for fresh delimitation of wards and reservation of seats for elections to the three municipal corporations.