The State Government has proposed 50 per cent of reservation of seats for women and 13.33 per cent of seats for candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the ensuing elections for the post of Zilla Parishad President under the three-tire Panchayati Raj system, according to an official notification on Saturday.

The Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department issued a draft notification making such provisions. The department has also sought objections or suggestions online with regard to allotment of reservations by 5 pm of October 24 over: dir-pr.od@gov.in or prsec.or@nic.in The draft notification making reservation for the OBCs came amidst a row over the alleged inadequate quota for the OBC citizens in proportionate of their population ratio in the State.Of the 30 Zilla Parishad (ZP) President posts, four each seats are reserved for OBCs and Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10 for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 12 seats to remain unreserved, the notification said.

The four districts where ZP President posts reserved for OBCs are Angul (W), Khordha (W), Gajapati and Keonjhar. This is 13.33 per cent of reservation for the OBCs.

The notification said the ZP Presidents posts would remain reserved for SCs in four districts, Cuttack (W) and Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur and Bhadrak (W). The ratio of reservation for SCs also stands at 13.33per cent. The Government has also reserved 10 districts for ST candidates. They are Baleswar, Koraput (W), Kandhamal, Nayagarh (W), Nabarangapur (W), Malkangiri (W), Mayurbhanj, Rayagada (W), Sundargarh and Subarnapur (W). The ratio of reservation for ST is 33.33per cent.

The ZP posts in the 12 other districts have been grouped under unreserved category. Candidates from unreserved classes may contest for ZP President posts in Kalahandi (W), Kendrapada, Ganjam (W), Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal (W), Deogarh, Nuapada (W), Puri, Bargarh (W), Balangir, Boudh (W) and Sambalpur. The ratio of unreserved seats stands at 40%.

The seats proposed to remain reserved for women are Angul (OBC), Cuttack (SC), Kalahandi (UR), Koraput (ST), Khordha (OBC), Ganjam (UR), Dhenkanal (UR), Nayagarh (ST), Nuapada (UR), Bargarh (UR), Boudh (UR), Bhadrak (SC), Malkangiri (ST), Rayagada (ST) and Subarnapur (ST).

The notification also specifies that 50% of ZP chief posts shall be reserved for women candidates. The list would be finalised on October 29 and submitted to the State Election Commission the following day, the notification said.