As the sunset under Article 334 approaches and delimitation is due, evaluate the case for continuing political reservation for SCs and STs.

Article 330 reserves Lok Sabha seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their share of the population. Article 334 made this reservation temporary. The 104th Amendment (2019) extended it to 25 January 2030 [1]. With that deadline and delimitation both coming up, the real question is whether reserved seats still deliver representation. The case for continuing them is strong, but only if the system is reformed.

Case for continuing

• Presence is still needed: Caste still shapes who parties nominate and how people vote. Reserved seats guarantee that SC/ST members sit in the House, a continuation of the Poona Pact settlement.
• Institutional voice: MPs from these communities work through the Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs. It examines how ministries implement SC/ST policies and reports to both Houses [3].
• Tribal issues get a platform: ST seats keep forest rights, displacement and PESA on the parliamentary agenda.
• Constitutional value: Reserved seats serve substantive equality (equality of real outcomes, not just equal rules) under the Preamble and Articles 15(4) and 46.

Limits of the current design

• Seats, not voice: In the 18th Lok Sabha, BJP MPs from SC/ST seats averaged 13.89 debates, against a House average of 21.53. Only 9 of these 46 MPs were above the average [2].
• A system-wide gap: Across all parties, SC-seat MPs averaged 18.22 debates against 22.15 for other MPs. ST-seat MPs averaged 17.67 against 21.91 [2]. A Union Minister had to write to the Speaker asking for more floor time for these MPs [2].
• Party control: Under the Tenth Schedule, MPs "can neither vote nor speak what they believe is right" [4]. This limits how far reserved-seat MPs can push caste issues their party finds awkward.
• Accountability: Reserved-seat MPs are elected by all voters in their constituency, most of whom are not SC/ST. They may answer to the party and the majority more than to the community.

Verdict and way forward Reservation should continue beyond 2030, but with reforms:

• Parties publish how many speaking slots go to reserved-seat MPs.
• The whip is limited to confidence votes and other votes that decide whether the government survives.
• The Speaker and the Business Advisory Committee set aside time for SC/ST MPs during debates on SC/ST welfare.
• Delimitation and the next extension are backed by data on how reserved-seat MPs actually take part.

Reserved seats have given SCs and STs a presence in Parliament, but not yet an equal voice. Keeping the seats and making them work better will turn the constitutional promise of justice (social, economic and political) into real participation, in line with SDG 16.7's call for inclusive and representative decision-making.