Bhubaneswar: Moving a step forward in conducting elections to the urban local bodies (ULBs) in state, the Odisha government issued Monday final notification on reservation for the post of chairperson in 107 municipalities and notified area councils (NACs).
As per the notification issued by the Housing & Urban Development (H&UD) department, the offices of chairpersons in 54 ULBs have been reserved for women candidates. The chief posts in nine ULBs have been reserved for Scheduled Caste (women), five for Scheduled Tribe (women) and another 40 for unreserved women.
Similarly, the chairperson posts in eight other ULBs have been reserved for Scheduled Caste and three for Scheduled Tribe, while 42 others are under unreserved category.
The department has issued the final notification after seeking objections and suggestions from all stakeholders and the general public on the draft reservation list.
“In pursuance of sub-section (4) of Section 47 of the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950 (Odisha Act 23 of 1950) read with sub-rule (6) of rule 67 of the said rules, the state government do hereby reserve the offices of Chairpersons for the categories,” read the notification.
Few days ago, the H&UD department had reserved the mayor seat in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) for women candidates while Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Mayor post has been kept unreserved.
Notably, the state government has amended the Odisha Municipal Rules, 1994, to hold direct elections for the posts of mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and NACs during the upcoming poll. The urban election is very likely to be held soon after completion of the Panchayat polls in the state, sources said.