Reservation of Seats

(1) Seats to be filled by direct election in a Panchayati Raj Institution shall be reserved for -

a) the Scheduled Casts;

b) the Scheduled Tribes; and

c) the Backward Classes,

as also for women in accordance with the provisions contained in the succeeding sub-sections.

(2)The number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in Panchayati Raj Institution as the population of such Castes or, as the case may be, such Tribes in that Panchayati Raj Institution area bears to the total population of the area.

(3) Such percentage, not exceeding twenty one, of seats in a Panchayati Raj Institution at each level shall be reserved for Backward Classes as the percentage of the combined rural population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the concerned district in relation to the total rural population of the district falls short of fifty.

Provided that at least one seat shall be reserved in each Panchayati Raj Institution at each level for Backward Classes where the combined rural population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the concerned district does not exceed seventy percent of the total rural population of the district.

(4) Seats reserved in accordance with the provisions contained in the preceding sub-sections may be allotted by rotation to different wards or, as the case may be, different constituencies in the concerned Panchayat Raj Institution;

(5)Not less than one half of the total number of seats reserved under Sub-secs. (2) and (3) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes or, as the case may be, the Backward Classes.

(6)Not less than one half (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayati Raj Institution shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different wards or, as the case may be, constituencies in the concerned Panchayati Raj Institution in such manner as may be prescribed.