Articles 330 and 332

Articles 330 and 332 form the core of India's political reservation framework, placed in Part XVI of the Constitution ("Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes"). Article 330 mandates the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People (Lok Sabha), including special provision for the Scheduled Tribes of the autonomous districts of Assam. Article 332 provides the parallel guarantee for the Legislative Assemblies of the States. Both articles are products of the constitutional bargain reached after the abandonment of separate electorates — the Poona Pact of 1932 between Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar having earlier settled that depressed classes would receive reserved seats within a joint electorate rather than communal voting rolls. The reservation is thus territorial, not communal: any voter in a reserved constituency may vote, but only an SC or ST candidate may contest.

The number of seats reserved under both articles is proportional to the population of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State or Union Territory, "as nearly as may be," determined under Article 330(2) and 332(3) on the basis of the latest published census. The actual demarcation of reserved constituencies is carried out by the Delimitation Commission. Article 332(3A) and (3B), inserted to address the Northeast, make special provision for the Legislative Assemblies of States like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and the autonomous districts of Assam. Crucially, these are not fundamental rights and were never permanent: their sunset was originally fixed by Article 334, which has been extended decade by decade. The Constitution (One Hundred and Fourth Amendment) Act, 2019 extended SC/ST political reservation until 26 January 2030 while simultaneously ending the practice of nominating Anglo-Indians.

In practice these provisions reserve 84 Lok Sabha seats for Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes (of 543 elective seats), with corresponding reservations across the Vidhan Sabhas. They must be distinguished sharply from Article 16(4) and 15(4) (reservation in public employment and education) and from the 73rd and 74th Amendments' Articles 243D and 243T, which reserve seats — including for women — in Panchayats and Municipalities. Article 331 (nomination of Anglo-Indians to the Lok Sabha) and Article 333 (the same for Assemblies) lapsed with the 104th Amendment. The much-discussed Women's Reservation — the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — inserts Articles 330A and 332A to reserve one-third of seats for women, contingent on a future census and delimitation.

For the UPSC examination, Articles 330 and 332 recur in both the Polity (GS Paper II) and the Indian Society (GS Paper I) syllabi. Prelims frequently tests the precise distinction between political reservation (Arts 330, 332, 334) and reservation in services/education, and the role of Article 334's recurring extensions. Mains questions typically demand analysis of the Poona Pact's legacy, the rationale of reserved-but-joint-electorate constituencies, and the interface with the 2023 Women's Reservation Act. Candidates should commit the seat numbers, the 2030 sunset, and the 104th Amendment changes to memory.