Composition of Gram Panchayat

(1) A Gram Panchayat shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (5), consist of such number of members not less than five and not more than nine, as the Secretary may, subject to the general order of the State Government in regard to the allocation of number of seats to different Gram having regard to the varying extent of population therein, determine and such members shall be chosen by direct election through secret ballot by persons whose names are included in the electoral roll for the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the time being in force pertaining to the area comprised in the Gram. (2) Election to the Gram Panchayat shall be held in such manner as may be prescribed. (3) Where a Gram fails to elect the full number of members as determined under sub-section (1) it shall be called upon to elect the remaining number of members. (4) The term of office of the members of Gram Panchayat shall, subject to the provisions of section 29, be co-terminus with the term of the Gram Panchayat. (5) The State Government shall, by notification reserve the seats for Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every Gram Panchayat and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Panchayat as the population of the Scheduled Castes in that panchayat area or of the Scheduled Tribes in that panchayat area bears to the total population of that area and such seats shall be allotted by rotation to different wards in a Gram Panchayat in such manner as may be prescribed. (6) Not less than one-third of the total number of seats reserved under sub-section (5) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes. (7) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Gram Panchayat shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different wards in a Gram Panchayat in such manner as may be prescribed.