Reservation of seats

(1) Seats of members in every Gram Panchayat shall be reserved for--- (a) the Scheduled Castes; and (b) the Scheduled Tribes; 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 Gram Panchayat area or of the Scheduled Tribes in that Gram Panchayat area bears to the total population of that area and such seats shall be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Gram Panchayat, in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) Fifty percent of the total number of seats reserved under sub-section (1) shall be reserved for women belonging to Scheduled Castes or, as the case may, the Scheduled Tribes. (3) Fifty percent (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and 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 constituencies in the Gram Panchayat in such manner as may be prescribed. Provided that such reservation, as prescribed in Sub-section (2) and (3) of Section 14, may be less than Fifty percent if the particular Gram Panchayat is constituted with members in odd number.