(1)In every Panchayat there shall be a President and a Vice-President elected from among the elected members of that Panchayat in accordance with the provisions of this Act [and the president shall be full time functionary of the Panchayat] [Substituted by Act 13 of 1999.](2)On the constitution of a panchayat or on its reconstitution under any provision of this Act, there shall be called a meeting [[by the Returning Officer referred to in sub-section (6)] [Substituted by Act 13 of 1999.] for the election of its President and Vice-President from among the elected members of that Panchayat.(3)(a)The offices of President of Village Panchayats, Block panchayats and district panchayats in the State shall be reserved by the Government for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the number of the offices of President reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the panchayats at each level in the state shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of offices of President at each level as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State;(b)(i)One-third each of the total number of offices of President of village panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats in the State reserved under clause (a); and(ii)One-third each of the total number of offices of President of village Panchayats, block Panchayats and district Panchayats in the State, not so reserved, shall be reserved by the Government, for women.(4)[ (a) The offices of the President reserved under sub-section (3) shall be allotted to every level of Panchayat in the different districts by the State Election Commission by notification in the Gazette.(b)In the case of Block Panchayats and Village Panchayats the reserved seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be allotted proportionate to their population in the respective districts.(c)In the case of Village Panchayat, the reserved seats in each district shall be distributed among the Village Panchayats within the area of the various Block Panchayats in the district.(d)Before issuing notification for General election, the State Election Commission shall allot by rotation the reserved seats under clause (a), (b) and (c) and the rotation shall start from the Panchayat in which the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or women have the larges percentage of population and then passed on to the next panchayat having their largest percentage of population and so on:Provided that where the Panchayat the office of President of which is to be reserved for women and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is one and the same, in so reserving the Office of President preference shall be given to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and in lieu, the office of the President in the Panchayat net having their largest percentage population of women shall be reserved for women:Provided further that in Panchayats the office of President of which is reserved for the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes, those in which the women have the more percentage of population of women shall be reserved for women belonging to them.Provided also that office of President of any panchayat shall be reserved for the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes or women belonging to them only if at least one constituency of that Panchayat is reserved for that category.] [Substituted by Act 7 of 1995.](5)The meeting for the lection of President and Vice President shall be held on such day within three weeks from the date on which the names of members elected are published by the State Election Commission as may be fixed by the State Election Commission.(6)For the election of the President and the Vice-President of panchayats the State Election Commission shall designate or nominate an officer of the Government or local authority as the Returning officer.(7)It shall be the duty of the Returning Officer to do all such acts and things as may be necessary for the effectively conducting the election in the manner prescribed.
