The State Election Commission has handed over to the concerned officials the booklet of guidelines to decide on the reservation wards/constituencies for the local self-government elections based on a draw of lots.
The directive seeks to ensure that the wards reserved for one category earlier should not be included in the same reservation category by checking the allotment in the past two elections. Reservation is given to five groups of candidates – women, Scheduled caste women, Scheduled Tribe women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.
In a panchayat with 14 wards, 50% (seven) of the seats are reserved for women, including SCT and ST women. Currently, if ward 1 to ward 7 are reserved for women, this time, the reservation will be granted from wards 8 to 14. Wards reserved for SC and ST women in the 2010 and 2015 local body polls should be exempted from the reservation list for the same category this time.
SC (General) and ST (General) reservation wards should be chosen for the draw of lot from wards 1 to 7, provided any of these wards did not represent the same category in the two previous elections. At the same time, any panchayat that has odd-numbered wards can repeat a woman reservation ward. For instance, to ensure a 50 per cent reservation in a 15-ward panchayat, eight seats could be allotted to women.
Though the seven general wards would by default represent women candidates, the eighth one has to be decided by a draw of lot. In such cases, wards that represented women in 2010 and 2015 continuously should be exempted from the lot.
Entry for public
Public entry with restrictions will be allowed in the hall where reservation wards are decided by a draw of lot. Everyone has to wear masks and practise social distancing. Those placed under quarantine and those hailing from containment zones will be denied entry to the hall. The draw of lot will start on September 28 and will go on till October 6.
