Doors of political reservation for STs not closed: Goa Speaker

Panaji, Aug 21 (IANS) Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Monday said that the doors of political reservations for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) were not closed, adding he will try his best to convince the Central government on the matter. 

Tawadkar's statement came after the legislative department of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice stated that the exercise of reserving seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the state legislative assembly would only take place through a Delimitation Commission after 2026. 

"We will convince the central leadership. We have that courage and we should have it. We should not accept defeat till the last efforts," Tawadkar, a prominent ST leader, said during a programme in South Goa. 

After receiving a letter from legislative department of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice over the reservation issue, the ST community in Goa has once again warned of boycotting the Lok Sabha election in 2024 as the Centre has clarified that they will have to wait beyond 2026 for political reservation. 

"Articles 82 and 170(2) and the Explanation to Article 330 read with Article 332 of the Constitution provides that until the relevant figures for the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published, it shall not be necessary to readjust the seats in the Legislative Assembly of each state," the letter stated. 

"Therefore, it is clear that the next delimitation exercise and the readjustment of seats, including the number of seats to be reserved for the SCs and STs would only take place by a Delimitation Commission to be constituted for the purpose after the relevant figures of the census taken after the year 2026 is published," the letter stated. 

In the recently concluded monsoon assembly session the Goa Assembly had unanimously adopted a private member resolution to make provision for political reservation in the Assembly for members from the ST in the state.