1).Gram Sabha —It is a village assembly consisting the recognised voters in the area of the panchayat.
2).Three-tier govt—This act provide the three-tier system of the Panchayat at every level —village,Block and district.
But, State having population less then 20 lakh may not constitute panchayat at intermediating level.
3).Election of members and chairpersons—The members of the panchayats should be elected directly by the peoples,but the chairpersons of the panchayat at intermediate and district level shall be elected indirectly by the elected members of panchayat.However,The chairperson of a panchayat at the village level shall be elected in such as manner as the state legislature determines.
The minimum age for contesting election of panchayat is 21 years.
4).Reservation in Panchayati system—The Act also provide the reservation to the SCs and STs and 1/3 reservation for the Women.
On the other hand, Reservation for the OBCs is voluntary that means it can decide by the state legislatures.
5).Duration of the Panchayati raj—The act provide the 5 years of tenure of office.
6).State Election Commission —The Governor established the State Election Commission in every state.The commissioner is appointed by the Governor.
7).State Finance Commission —The governor may also appoint a state finance commissioner to review the financial position of the panchayats.
8).Eleventh schedule —It consist the 29th subjects of the Panchayati system.such as,agriculture,land,irrigation,roads,primary and secondary education,etc.
9).Exempted Areas and states—This Act is not applicable on Nagaland ,Mizoram and Meghalaya and certain other areas.These areas include the schedule areas and tribal areas in the states.However,the parliament may extended the provisions of this part to the Schedule areas and tribal areas subject to such exceptions and modifications as it may specify (PESA Act,1996 is one of them).