Why our Constitution entitles the concept of ‘Reserved Constituencies’? What significance of this policy was highlighted by our Constitution makers?
Our Constitution entitles every citizen to elect his/her representatives or to be elected as a representative. So, our Constitution makers thought of a special system of reserved constituencies for the weaker section i.e., Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). This system of Reserved Constituencies (79 seats for the Scheduled Castes and 41 for the Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha) makes our democracy a real representative democracy.
Such classes in our society had been victims of discrimination for centuries. So, if the representatives among them had not been elected, our Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies would have been deprived of the voice of a significant section of our society.
The significance highlighted by our Constitution makers is that everyone in the society is treated equally and law is equal for everyone. Hence, they advocated the feature ‘equality for all’.