Though the Constitution has
abandoned the system of communal representation, it provides for the reservation
of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the Lok Sabha on the
basis of population ratios (This means that the number of Lok Sabha seats reserved in a state or union territory for such castes and tribes is to bear the same proportion to the total number of seats allotted to that state or union territory in the Lok Sabha as the population of such castes and tribes in the concerned state or union territory bears to the total population of state or union territory).
Originally, this reservation was
to operate for ten years (ie, up to 1960), but it has been extended continuously
since then by 10 years each time. Now, under the 95th Amendment Act of 2009,
this reservation is to last until 2020.
Though seats are reserved for
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, they are elected by all the voters in a
constituency, without any separate electorate. A member of scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes is also not debarred from contesting a general (non-reserved)
seat.
The 84th Amendment Act of 2001
provided for refixing of the reserved seats on the basis of the population
figures of 1991 census as applied to rationalisation of the general seats.
Later, the 87th Amendment Act of 2003 provided for the refixing of
the reserved seats on the basis of 2001 census and not 1991 census.
No comments:
Post a Comment