PANAJI
In a session marked by friction, the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the significant legislation -- the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of Goa Bill, 2025 -- paving way for political reservation to STs in Goa Assembly. As announced in the Upper House of the Parliament, a total of four seats would be reserved for the community, which currently has no political reservation.
The Bill, which was passed in Lok Sabha, last week, was cleared in Rajya Sabha through voice vote, in the absence of Opposition members. The House was presided by Surendra Singh Nagar, who urged the treasury beach to proceed with the legislation even as Opposition objected.
Union Minister for Law Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Goa ST Representation Bill, which seeks to rectify a long-standing electoral imbalance.
The Bill was presented for enabling reservation of seats by article 332 of the Constitution for effective democratic participation of members of Scheduled Tribes and to provide for the readjustment of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa.
The Union Minister said, the Bill has been moved as despite Scheduled Tribes constituting over 10 per cent of Goa’s population -- rising from just 566 in 2001 to close to 1.5 lakh in 2011-- no Assembly seats had been reserved for them.
The Bill empowers the Election Commission to redraw constituency boundaries and reserve four seats for STs in the 40-member Goa Assembly.
Meghwal said that 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.
Supporting the legislation, BJP Goa MP Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that the Bill ensures proper representation and social justice for tribal communities, in keeping with the democratic spirit of our Constitution.
YSRCP’s Subhash Chandra Bose Pilli and BJD’s Niranjan Bishi also spoke in favour, with Bishi confirming that four seats would now be reserved for STs.
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.
In the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly, one seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC). The Bill will now be sent to the President of India for assent.
