Article 332: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States.

Article 332 of Indian Constitution

Original Text:

(1) Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, 1[except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam], in the Legislative Assembly of every State 2***.

(2) Seats shall be reserved also for the autonomous districts in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam.

(3) The number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any State under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State.

(3A) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the taking effect, under article 170, of the re-adjustment, on the basis of the first census after the year 4[2026], of the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any such State shall be, —

• if all the seats in the Legislative Assembly of such State in existence on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Fifty seventh Amendment) Act, 1987 (hereafter in this clause referred to as the existing Assembly) are held by members of the Scheduled Tribes, all the seats except one;
• in any other case, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number (as on the said date) of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the existing Assembly bears to the total number of seats in the existing Assembly.]

(3B) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the re-adjustment, under article 170, takes effect on the basis of the first census after the year [2026], of the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tripura, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly shall be, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number, as on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Seventy-second Amendment) Act, 1992, of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly in existence on the said date bears to the total number of seats in that Assembly.]

(4) The number of seats reserved for an autonomous district in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam shall bear to the total number of seats in that Assembly a proportion not less than the population of the district bears to the total population of the State.

(5) The constituencies for the seats reserved for any autonomous district of Assam shall not comprise any area outside that district 3***.

(6) No person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe of any autonomous district of the State of Assam shall be eligible for election to the Legislative Assembly of the State from any constituency of that district 3***:

[Provided that for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam, the representation of the Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the constituencies included in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, so notified, and existing prior to the Constitution of Bodoland Territorial Areas District, shall be maintained.

Explanation of Article 332 of Indian Constitution:

In Article 332 of Indian Constitution- Provision for Reservation of Seats in the State Assembly for the Scheduled Castes(SCs) and Scheduled Tribes(STs):

• To deal with the backwardness and historical injustices towards Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, the Constitution has provided for the Reservation of seats in state assemblies for SCs and STs in proportion to their population in the State.
• It is to be noted that this provision is not equivalent to the separate electorate; the candidates are elected by all the voters of that constituency.
• The Constitution had provided for this provision to continue for 10 years; however, it has been extended continuously since then by 10 years at a time. The 104^th Constitutional Amendment Act extended the reservations till 2030.
• The 87^th Constitutional Amendment Act has provided for the fixing of reserved seats on the basis of 2001 census

The article ensures that there shall be a reservation of seats for SCs and STs (except the STs in the autonomous districts of Assam) in the Legislative Assembly for every State and the STs in the autonomous districts of Assam.

The number of seats for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State shall be proportional to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Schedule Caste(SC) in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes(ST) in the State in respect of the total population of the State.

List of Amendments in Article 332 of Indian Constitution:

Amendments	Description
84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001	To promote population control measures, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976 froze the allocation of seats to the states and division of states into constituencies by 2000, at the 1971 level. This was extended till 2026 by the 84th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001.
87th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2001	The 87th Constitutional Amendment Act has provided for the fixing of reserved seats on the basis of 2001 census figures.
104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019	The amendment act extends the deadline for the termination of the Reservation of seats for members from scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled Tribes (ST) in the House of the People and state legislative Assemblies by a period of ten years.

Note: The Government recently passed the 106^th Constitutional Amendment Act, which has inserted article 330A after article 330 to provide 1/3^rd reservation for women in the legislative assemblies of the state.

For Further Reference:

• Read the Constitution of India.
• Read the state Legislature.

Other Related Links:

Indian Constitution: All Articles and schedules	Article 1 of Indian Constitution
Article 2 of Indian Constitution	Article 3 of Indian Constitution
Article 4 of indian Constitution	Article 5 of Indian Constitution
Fundamental Rights	DPSP
Fundamental Duties	Amendments of the Indian Constitution
Article 331 of Indian Constitution	Article 333 of Indian Constitution