UP releases reservation policy for upcoming panchayat polls

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday released the reservation policy for the upcoming three-tier panchayat polls in the state.

Reservation by rotation will be implemented in the panchayat elections, Additional Chief Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Manoj Kumar Singh said.

The reservation system in place for the elections from 1995 to 2015 will be taken into account in the new policy, he said.

The order of Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and women in the previous election will be taken into account in the reservation policy, the ACS said adding that preference would be given to seats which have never been reserved till now.

Last week, the Allahabad High Court asked the State Election Commission in Uttar Pradesh to ensure the rural civic body elections are held by April 30, rejecting the poll panel's undertaking to hold the polls by May.

At present, the state has 826 vikas khands (development blocks), and 58,194 gram sabhas. There are 7,31,813 wards in the gram sabhas, and 75,855 wards in kshetra panchayats and 30,051 wards in 75 zila panchayats.