Jajpur, 11th Nov 2025 : When the Constitution was framed, the reservation system in politics was implemented for the first 10 years. However, the Lok Sabha seat in Jajpur has remained reserved for Scheduled Castes from the beginning. Therefore, there is now a demand to convert the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat from reserved to general category based on population composition.
Senior leaders including Harekrushna Panda, former sarpanch Atal Bihari Nayak, retired principal Gosind Samal, and various central government and central boundary commission officials have taken note of the issue.
Since 1952, 17 elections have been held here, and the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat has consistently been reserved for Scheduled Castes.
In 1952, Bhubanananda Das and Lakshmidhar Jena were elected.
From 1956 to 1961, the constituency was reorganized.
Later, Ramchandra Mahit (1962), Baidhara Behera (1967), Anadi Charan Das (1971), Ramchandra Mahib (1977), Anadi Charan Das (1980–1991), Anchal Das (1996), Ramchandra Mahib (1998), Jagannath Malik (1999), Mohan Jena (2004 & 2009), Raja Tarai (2014), Sharmistha Sethi (2019), and Rabindra Narayan Behera (2024) were elected from here.
So far, this Lok Sabha seat has not been open for the general category, leading to discontent in different areas of Jajpur district. Due to the lack of reorganization at the district level, the State Boundary Reorganization Committee could not address the issue. Although the committee met three times, there has been no change in the reservation status of the Kinjharpur Assembly and Jajpur Lok Sabha seats.
According to the population proportion, the reservation status of a Lok Sabha seat can be changed. According to the 2011 census, Jajpur district had 901,991 Scheduled Tribes (ST), 8.29% of the population, and Scheduled Castes (SC) 23.72%. At that time, in Sonpur, Cuttack, Bargarh, Balangir, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Kendujhar, Koraput, and Nuapada, ST population ranged from 30% to 40%.
By 2064 general election, the ST and SC proportion in Jajpur district has declined further. In this situation, there is now a demand to remove reservation from the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat and make it open for the general category.
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