Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The Odisha Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department notified reservation guidelines for the upcoming Panchayat elections. In a letter to all district Collectors, Ashok Meena, the Principal Secretary to the Government, rested out guidelines for a reservation to the offices of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members for the general elections scheduled in 2022.
According to the reports, for non-scheduled areas, the total reservation of seats in favour of Scheduled caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Backward Class of Citizens (BCC) will be kept within 50 per cent of the total seats and the reservation for BCC alone, which can vary, will be kept within 27 per cent of the total seats.
Further, up to 27 per cent of total seats will be reserved in favour BCC category and whenever necessary, the quantum of reservation for BCC will be reduced to such extent as required to limit the total reservation of seats in favour of SC, ST and BCC taken together within 50%.
The reservations provided to SC and ST will be ensured under provisions of Section- 10(3)(b-1) of the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, 1964, Section 16(2)(b-1) of Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959 and Section-6(3)(b-1) of Odisha Zilla Parishad Act,1991.
Percentage of SCs and STs in the respective GP/ Block/ District according to the 2011 Census would be the determining factor for computation of a number of seats/ offices to be reserved for SC or ST category in three-tier Panchayati Raj system.
After reservation of seats of SC, ST and BCC categories, reservation for women will be made after arranging the Ward/ GP/ Constituencies in Odia alphabetical order, in the manner as provided in Panchayat laws so that the total reservation for women will not be less than 50 per cent of the total seats/ offices.
