Moving a step forward in conduct of election to urban local bodies (ULBs), the Odisha government has issued draft reservation list for the post of chairpersons of 107 municipalities and Notified Area Councils (NACs) of the State.
As per a notification issued by the State housing & urban development department, the office of chairperson in nine ULBs has been reserved for SC (women), five for ST (women) and 40 for women.
Similarly, the chairperson post in eight other ULBs has been reserved for SC and three for ST, while the post in 42 other civic bodies is under the unreserved category.
The department has sought objections/ suggestions from all interested persons on the draft reservation list within a period of 15 days.
“Any objection and suggestion which may be received by the director municipal administration (DMA) from any person interested on or before the expiry of the period so specified above shall be considered by the State government,” read the notification.
On January 12, the State government had issued a notification on reservation of the Mayor seat for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC).
In the draft list, the government has reserved the mayor post for BMC and BeMC for women candidates while CMC has been kept unreserved.
Notably, the State government has amended the Odisha Municipal Rules, 1994, to hold direct election for the posts of mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and NACs during the upcoming poll.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi on Saturday held a meeting with the State government officials to review the preparation made for ensuing three-tier Panchayat elections with strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols.
A detailed discussion was held on how to enforce the guidelines during filing of nominations, scrutiny, campaigning and counting, Padhi said.
“We have sought opinions and suggestions from collectors and SPs. Based on the input, we will revise our Covid guidelines,” he said.
Padhi hoped that the district officials will focus more on the election process as the process of filing the nomination papers will start from January 17.
The Panchayat polls will be held in five phases on February 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24. The counting of votes and declaration of results will be done on February 26, 27, and 28.
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