PANAJI
In a pivotal move aimed at granting political representation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Goa Legislative Assembly, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the crucial 'The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2025', even as opposition protests demanding discussion on revision of Bihar electoral rolls continued unabated.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Bill for consideration and passage and the legislation was passed by a voice vote. Incidentally, the bill was introduced in the Lower House on the very same day, August 5, 2024 and was pending since then.
After the passage of the bill, Sandhya Ray, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings for the day as protests by opposition MPs continued.
“The Government has received multiple representations from various sources, with a request to direct the initiation of the process to identify and determine the seats to provide for reservation to the Scheduled Tribes community in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa, as the same is not presently available to them. Since, the exercise of delimitation was initiated in the year 2002, the population of the Scheduled Tribes in the State of Goa was recorded at that time in the census figures of the year 2001 as only 566, whereas the total population of the State of Goa was more than thirteen lakhs, the Scheduled Tribes communities of Goa, were not able to avail the benefit of reservations of seats as per the Constitution for their communities in the Legislative Assembly,” reads the Bill.
According to the Bill, the population of the Scheduled Tribes has increased considerably in Goa as per the 2011 census vis-a-vis 2001 census figures.
It noted that a "peculiar situation" has arisen in the state, wherein the population of the STs there vis-a-vis the population of SCs is considerably higher -- as per the Primary Census Abstract, 2011 for Goa. The total population was 14,58,545; the population of SCs was 25,449 and the population of STs was 1,49,275.
"But no seats are reserved for the STs and they are unable to avail the constitutional benefit of reservation..."
As of now, no seat in the 40-member Goa assembly is reserved for the ST community, while one seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Further, the Bill pointed out that no provision in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 or in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, or in the Delimitation Act, 2002, enabling the Election Commission to carry out further delimitation of constituencies or to determine constituencies for the SC or ST in the States/Union territories where the delimitation exercise was carried out by the Delimitation Commission constituted under the Delimitation Act, 2002 and in terms of the provisions of the Constitution on the basis of 2001 census.
“The Delimitation Commission has since ceased to exist after completion of its assigned task in the year 2008. Under articles 82 and 170 of the Constitution, further delimitation stands frozen until the figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published. Therefore, no readjustment of seats can be undertaken to provide the reservation of seats for the STs in the State of Goa where the population of the STs has increased considerably as per 2011 census vis-à-vis 2001 census figures,” the Bill added.
The Bill, once approved by Raj Sabha and notified, will empower the Election Commission of India to make amendments in the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008 and readjust the seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa for the Scheduled Tribes of the State.
The Bill aims to grant the Census Commissioner the authority to declare the number of STs in Goa and the Election Commission will consider these new ST population statistics to modify the constituencies of the Legislative Assembly.
Political reservation for STs is a long pending demand of the community, who had, last year, launched State wide protest pressing for their demand.
