Jaipur: Rajasthan’s long-pending urban local body elections moved a step closer Thursday with the draw of lots taken out to reserve seats of heads for different categories, as per their quota, among the 309 municipal bodies. The exercise cleared the picture for the state’s 10 municipal corporations where six of the 10 mayoral posts have been reserved for women, with the unreserved posts going to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Bikaner.The allocation of mayoral seats reflects a broader representation for women, as cities like Alwar, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Pali, and Bharatpur will see women from the general category assume mayoral roles, with Kota’s position reserved for a woman from the OBC category. In total, out of 309 posts for heads of urban local bodies, 102 are reserved for women, constituting nearly 33% of the total, which Urban Development and Housing minister Jhabar Singh Kharra hailed as a vital step toward women’s empowerment in local governance.The reservation scheme includes 50 posts for Scheduled Castes (SC), of which 16 are for women, and 11 for Scheduled Tribes (ST), with three designated for women. Additionally, 60 posts are reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC), including 21 for OBC women. The remaining 188 posts are open for general category, including 62 reserved for women.A breakdown of the divisions shows that the Jaipur division leads with 91 urban local bodies, of which SC posts total 13 (4 for SC women), ST posts total 6 (2 for ST women), and OBC posts total 19 (6 for OBC women). Ajmer follows with 52 bodies, of which 8 are SC posts (3 for SC women), 10 are OBC posts (3 for OBC women), and 34 remain open, with 11 allocated for women. Other divisions, including Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bharatpur, Kota, and Udaipur, present similar patterns of reservation across categories.The next critical phase in the electoral process will involve the reservation of municipal wards, with the lottery set to be carried out by district collectors on Aug 17. Directorate of Local Bodies will review this process on Aug 18, ahead of submitting the finalised reservation details to the State Election Commission. This step will pave the way for the official election schedule, giving political parties and prospective candidates clarity as they prepare for the upcoming local elections.
