How was the system of ‘reserved constituencies’ introduced for the SCs and STs?
Answer:
- Some constituencies are reserved for the people who belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- In an SC-reserved constituency, only someone who belongs to the scheduled caste can stand for elections.
- Similarly, only those belonging to a scheduled tribe can contest elections from a constituency reserved for STs.
- Currently, 79 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 41 for the Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha.
- This number is in proportion to their share in the total population; thus the reserved seats for SCs and STs do not take away the legitimate share of any other social group.