New Delhi
A move has been made to reserve seats for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill titled Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024 to provide reservation to Scheduled Tribes in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
The proposal to bring the Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet in March this year, days before the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced on March 16.
The Bill will empower the Census commissioner to notify the population of STs in Goa. The Bill, introduced on Monday, cites that a “peculiar situation” in the fact that the population of the Scheduled Tribes has increased considerably in Goa as per the 2011 Census vis-à-vis the 2001 Census figures. While 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,” the Bill stated.
As there is no power with the Election Commission (EC) to determine the number of seats for SCs and STs in any state prior to the next Census, the Bill was being brought to provide for enabling provisions.
Based on it, the Election Commission will amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, to make way for ST reservation in the 40-member Goa assembly.
The EC will take into consideration the revised population figures of STs and readjust the legislative assembly constituency once the Bill becomes a law.
