The Odisha government has reserved four zilla parishad (ZP) president seats for Other Backward Class (OBC) members.
According to a notification issued by the state Panchayati Raj Department, 18 ZP chief seats have been reserved for various categories. While the President post in 10 districts have been reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, four for Scheduled Caste (SC) and four others for the OBCs.
The ZP president post in Angul, Nayagarh, Khordha and Sonepur districts has been reserved for the OBCs.
The government has reserved the post in Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur and Bhadrak districts for the SC category while ST members to lead the ZPs in Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Rayagada, and Sundargarh districts.
Similarly, posts in Kendrapara, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Puri, Bolangir and Sambalpur districts have been put under unreserved category.
However, the government did not mention anything on the reservation of the seat for the districts of Kalahandi, Ganjam, Dhenkanal, Nuapada, Bargarh and Boudh.
Anyone can became the ZP chairperson in these districts, sources said
The state government has also reserved 50 per cent of all ZP chief posts for women candidates.
The districts are Angul, Cuttack, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Koraput, Khordha, Gajapati, Ganjam, Dhenkanal, Nuapada, Bargarh, Boudh, Bhadrak, Malkangiri and Rayagada.
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