TS issues quota guidelines for panchayat polls

The State government on Thursday issued detailed guidelines for fixing of reservations for ward members and sarpanches for the ensuing Panchayat Raj elections. The basis of fixing the reservations will be the population data from the 2011 census, the government said.

The reservations are to be fixed for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes. The orders issued by the Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Department, also laid down the procedures for



reservation for women amounting to 50 per cent of all seats.

The guidelines provided detailed instructions to officials for determination of SC, ST, BC and women’s reservations at the ward and mandal levels as well as for the sarpanch seats. During the calculations, if percentages of reservation categories are arrived at fractions, then such numbers should be rounded off to the nearest next number, the orders said.