Cabinet clears reservation distribution for Panchayat polls

AMENDMENT TO SIKKIM PANCHAYAT ACT PROPOSED TO REFLECT NATURE AND EXTENT OF RESERVATION FOR DIFFERENT SEGMENTS OF TRIBAL COMMUNITY

VISHNU NEOPANEY
GANGTOK, 28 Aug: The Cabinet, in its sitting today, cleared the reservation pattern for the upcoming two-tier Panchayat election due for later this year. The earmarking on various wards and territorial constituencies as per the reservation roster was thoroughly discussed.
Starting with the upcoming panchayat polls, 50% of the panchayat seats will be reserved for women. The nodal department, Rural Management & Development Department, in consultation with the State Election Commission, had finalized the reservation distribution pattern green flagged by the Cabinet today.
The delimitation of seats was also carried by the RM&DD as per the guidelines and under the supervision of the State Election Commission after the urban areas were carved out from the rural bodies and notified for local bodies.
The Cabinet has also decided to place the reservation system approved by the Cabinet in the forthcoming summer session of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly expected to be held in the second week of September.
The RM&DD has proposed an amendment to the Sikkim Panchayat Act, 1993 to reflect the nature and extent of reservation of different segments of the Scheduled Tribe community - namely, Bhutia, Lepcha, Limboo and Tamang under the ambit of reservation of Schedule Tribe Community.
This time, after the delimitation for Territorial (Zilla Panchayat) and Gram Panchayat Units, there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of rural seats. The territorial wards for Zilla Panchayat have increased to 110 from 93 [32 for East, 28 each for South and West and 22 for North District] in comparison to 2007. Nine seats have been added in East, 3 in South, one seat in West and four seats in North district.
SK Gautam, State Election Commissioner, while speaking to NOW! on Monday, informed that the Commission has completed the entire exercise with the help of nodal department, RMDD, “independently, and without any political or government interference”.
Earlier, Mr. Gautam had explained that “After carving out Bazaar areas into notified urban areas under Gangtok Municipal Corporation and the five Nagar Panchayats, the State Election Commission with the cooperation of RMDD carried out fresh delimitation for rural areas for both Territorial and Gram Panchayat Units in Sikkim.”
He said that State Election Commission is ready to hold the election in time, adding that once the reservation for reserved categories and 50 percent within the reserved and open categories for women, the poll date will be announced, Mr. Gautam said.