Jaipur, August 13 (IANS) The Rajasthan Department of Local Self-Government conducted the reservation lottery for the posts of heads of 309 urban local bodies on Thursday in Jaipur, marking a significant step toward the upcoming municipal and panchayat elections in the state.
The lottery determined the reservation status of Mayoral and Chairperson posts across Rajasthan’s urban local bodies.
Four major municipal corporations, namely, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Bikaner have been kept in the unreserved (open) category, allowing candidates from any category to contest the Mayoral posts.
Meanwhile, the Mayoral posts of Alwar, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Bharatpur and Pali have been reserved for women under the general category.
The Kota Municipal Corporation Mayoral post has been reserved for an OBC woman.
Of the 309 posts covered by the reservation exercise, 50 have been reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC), including 16 for SC women, 11 have been reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST), including three for ST women, 60 have been reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC), including 21 for OBC women and 188 have been kept unreserved, including 62 posts reserved for women.
The reservation lottery was conducted offline at the Department of Local Self-Government in Jaipur, with representatives of political parties present.
The offline process was adopted after political parties raised concerns about transparency in conducting the lottery online.
The reservation lottery has kept the Mayoral posts of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Udaipur Municipal Corporations in the General (Open) category, allowing candidates from any category to contest.
The Kota Municipal Corporation Mayoral post has been reserved for an OBC woman. Also, the Mayoral posts in Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Pali and Alwar have been reserved for women under the general category.
The results represent a change from the previous reservation arrangement in several corporations.
Ajmer, for instance, moves from an SC-woman reservation to general-woman reservation, while Bikaner shifts from general-woman to open general.
Udaipur, previously reserved for OBC, has now been placed in the open category.
The reservation exercise also assigned OBC categories to several municipal councils and other urban local bodies across the state’s administrative divisions.
In the Ajmer division, Nawa, Nagaur, Hamirgarh, Riyabari, Sarwar, Ladnun, Jayal, Didwana, Basni and Jaitaran were among the bodies reserved for OBC candidates, with three posts additionally reserved for OBC women.
In the Kota division, Aklera, Jhalawar, Anta, Kota and Suket were placed in the OBC category.
The Bikaner division saw Lunkaransar, Sujangarh, Khajuwala, Kesrisinghpur, Sardarshahar, Rajgarh, Churu and Nokha reserved for OBC candidates.
In the Bharatpur division, Rajakheda and Sarmathura were reserved for OBC women, while Roopwas, Bonli, Brijnagar and Sawai Madhopur were assigned the OBC category.
Several urban local bodies in the Jaipur division were assigned OBC reservations. These include Ajitgarh, Virat Nagar, Vidya Vihar, Malsisar, Neemrana, Bahadurpur, Bandikui, Bhiwadi, Shrimadhopur, Khetri, Rajgarh, Chirawa, Dausa, Khatushyamji, Palsana, Dantaramgarh, Mundawar and Dundlod.
Posts in Bandikui, Dausa, Naugaon, Khetri, Neemrana and Khatushyamji were among those reserved for OBC women.
A number of other urban local bodies in the division were placed in the unreserved category, while several were separately reserved for women under the general category.
In the Udaipur division, Sagwara, Devgarh, Dhariyawad, Kanor and Kushalgarh were reserved for OBC candidates.
Among these, Sagwara and Devgarh were specifically reserved for OBC women.
Rawatbhata, Dungarpur, Bhim, Chhoti Sadri, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh and Garhi were among the bodies placed in the unreserved category.
In the Ajmer division, 28 urban local bodies were placed in the unreserved category.
Gangapur, Bhilwara, Sawar, Vijayanagar, Beawar, Bijolia, Ajmer, Lambaharisingh, Jahazpur, Merta City, Mandalgarh and Gulabpura were among the bodies reserved for women within the unreserved category.
The reservation exercise is expected to have a direct bearing on political preparations for the forthcoming Rajasthan local body elections.
With the Mayoral posts of four major corporations now open to candidates from any category, political parties are likely to intensify discussions over potential candidates.
The reservation lottery is one of the key administrative steps preceding the local body elections, alongside the delimitation and other election-related preparations.
The final reservation list will determine the categories eligible to contest the respective posts when the election process formally begins.
–IANS
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