Bhubaneswar: With polls to urban local bodies (ULBs) expected in Odisha in just two to three months, the state government has finalised seat reservations for BMC, BeMC and CMC, a source said Saturday.
The government has reserved the posts of Mayor in two municipal corporations – BMC and BeMC for woman candidates – and unreserved in CMC, a notification issued by the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department Friday afternoon mentioned.
“In pursuance of sub-Section (4) of Section 14 of the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, the state government hereby reserved the offices of Mayor of municipal corporations,” the notification read.
Offices of Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) have been reserved for woman candidates and the Office of Mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has been unreserved, the notification added.
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A source said that as per notification issued by the H&UD department regarding the restructure of existing wards, reservation of seats and conduct of elections, the BMC has been divided into 67 (sixty seven) wards, BeMC into 42 (forty two) wards and CMC into 59 (fifty nine).
In BMC limits, as many as three wards each have been reserved for the scheduled caste (woman) and scheduled caste candidates, two for scheduled tribe (woman) candidates, one for scheduled tribe candidate and 29 for women candidates, the notification stated.
In BeMC limits, two wards each have been reserved for scheduled caste (woman) and scheduled caste candidates, one for scheduled tribe (woman) candidate and 18 for women candidates, it added.
In CMC limits, four wards have been reserved for scheduled caste (woman) candidates, three for scheduled caste candidates, one for scheduled tribe (woman) candidate and 25 for women candidates.
It is pertinent to mention here that the department had earlier issued draft notification on the reservation of Mayor posts in the three urban civic bodies and invited objections and suggestions from stakeholders within a period of 15 days from date of publication of the notice.
PNN