Constitution Section 330 — Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People

Part XVI — SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO CERTAIN CLASSES

Constitutional

Summary

This section requires that seats in the Lok Sabha (the House of the People) be set aside for people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The number of reserved seats in each state or union territory must be roughly proportional to that community’s share of the total population of that state or union territory. For Scheduled Tribes living in the autonomous districts of Assam, the number of reserved seats cannot be less than their share of Assam’s total population. The population figures used for these calculations are based on the most recent published census, and until the first census after 2026 is published, the 2001 census will be used.

Official Text

(1) Seats shall be reserved in the House of the People for —

(a) the Scheduled Castes;

(b) the Scheduled Tribes except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam; and

(c) the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam.

(2) The number of seats reserved in any State or Union territory for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats allotted to that State or Union territory in the House of the People as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or Union territory or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or Union territory or part of the State or Union territory, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State or Union territory.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2), the number of seats reserved in the House of the People for the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam shall bear to the total number of seats allotted to that State a proportion not less than the population of the Scheduled Tribes in the said autonomous districts bears to the total population of the State.Explanation.—In this article and in article 332, the expression “population” means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published:Provided that the reference in this Explanation to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published shall, until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published, be construed as a reference to the 2001 census.