PRAYAGRAJ, Sept. 18 -- The process to determine reservations of seats for the upcoming three-tier panchayat elections has started in Prayagraj, with a district-level committee led by the district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) tasked with reviewing existing allocations and preparing a revised list, officials said on Tuesday. There are 1,540 gram panchayats in Prayagraj whose reservation categories were last decided during the 2021 elections. Changes in population distribution and demographic shifts over the past five years have prompted the fresh review. All local bodies have been asked to submit updated data, which a five-member committee will analyse before a new reservation order is finalised. The district magistrate will approve and publish the list, specifying the reserved seats for pradhans, gram panchayat and zila panchayat. DPRO Ravi Shankar Dwivedi said the reservation would be classified into six categories: General, Women, Scheduled Caste (SC), SC Women, Other Backward Classes (OBC), and OBC Women. The rotation system will be revised based on the latest population figures and past representation. "In some places, the status may remain the same, while in others, changes are possible. The final decision will come only after the committee's report," Dwivedi added. The process is expected to take four to five months, with the new list likely to be released by December 2025 or January 2026. Ahead of the 2021 elections, the government had introduced a rotational formula, under which seats reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs in one cycle would not be reserved for the same category in the next. Reservations are allocated on the basis of population share. Officials said that as per current norms, 27% of seats are reserved for OBCs, 20.69% for SCs and 0.56% for STs. Of these reserved seats, at least 33% are to be allotted to women of the respective categories....