Bhubaneswar, Jan 31 (PTI) Odisha government Monday issued the final notification making provision of 50 per cent reservation for women as chairpersons of 107 urban local bodies (ULBs), election for which is likely to be held in mid-2022, officials said.

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As per the notification, the office of the chairperson has been reserved for SC women in nine ULBs, five for STs, while eight for SC and three for ST candidates.

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Similarly, the chairperson's post in 40 other ULBs have been kept reserved for women candidates while 42 others are kept unreserved.

The reservation for the offices of the chairperson of 107 municipalities were worked out based on the provisions of Article 243 T of the Constitution of India read with sub-section(4) of Section 47 of the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950, the notification said.

The department had earlier announced reservation for the mayor's 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.

The state government has amended the Odisha Municipal Rules, 1994, to hold direct election for the post of mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and NACs during the coming poll.

The State Election Commission, Odisha has already begun preparations for the Odisha municipal Polls and so far dispatched EVMs to 15 districts, officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)