By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 7 Aug: The Uttarakhand State Election Commission has announced the schedule for the elections of Zila Panchayat Chairpersons and Block Pramukhs. A notification in this respect was issued today by the State Election commission. With the issue of the notification, the Model Code of Conduct has come into immediate effect across 12 districts.
According to the notification issued, the nomination papers for these posts will be accepted until 11 August, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations has been fixed for 12 August. At the same time, the polling will be held on 14 August and the counting has also been scheduled to held on the same day.
It may be reminded here that Uttarakhand State Election Commission’s notification pertains to the general elections for Zila Panchayat Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons, as well as Block Pramukhs, Senior Vice-Pramukhs, and Junior Vice-Pramukhs across all the districts of the state except Haridwar. Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar today confirmed that the Model Code of Conduct will be applicable in all Zila Panchayats and Block Panchayats (rural areas) of the participating districts until the completion of the vote counting process.
It may also be recalled that late last evening, the final reservation list for the posts of Zila Panchayat Chairpersons in 12 districts, was approved and released by the Panchayati Raj Department after disposing of the objections to its provisional notification. The department, for the first time, implemented recommendations from a one-member commission constituted to determine reservation quotas for Other Backward Classes in Panchayats. As a result, reservation of posts ranging from Gram Panchayat Pradhan to Zila Panchayat has been finalised. The Panchayati Raj Secretary, Chandresh Kumar, had issued a provisional notification on 1 August and invited objections from the public between 2 and 5 August. A total of 42 objections were received statewide, most of them from Dehradun. These objections were discussed by the committee on Tuesday, after which the final reservation details were published late last evening. It may be shared here that while all the objections were discussed and disposed of, there has been no change in the status of reservation in any of the seats in the final list of the reservations.
With the reservation status now formalised, the State Election Commission is due to proceed with the poll process under the new reservation arrangement. The reservation status for Zila Panchayat Chairperson seats across the 12 districts stands as follows: Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Nainital, and Champawat are unreserved; Tehri, Pauri, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, and Almora have been reserved for women; Udham Singh Nagar is reserved for candidates from Other Backward Classes; Bageshwar is reserved for Scheduled Caste women; and Pithoragarh is reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
The implementation of the revised reservation policy, alongside the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, marks a significant step towards the upcoming democratic exercise in Uttarakhand.
