Article 332

Reservation of State Assembly Seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Official heading: “Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States”

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Source edition: The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
Source locator: Part XVI, Article 332, printed pages 190–192
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1. In One Sentence

Mandates seat reservations in State Legislative Assemblies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes based on population proportions, with special rules for northeastern states.

2. What It Means in Everyday Language

Article 332 guarantees reserved seats for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in every State Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha).

Like Article 330, the number of seats reserved must bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total seats in the Assembly as the SC or ST population bears to the total population of the State.

Detailed constitutional amendments accommodate the demographic realities of northeastern tribal states: clause (3A) regulates seat protection in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland; clause (3B) governs Tripura; and clauses (4)–(6) protect autonomous districts and the Bodoland Territorial Areas District in Assam.

3. Practical Illustrative Example

Everyday Scenario:

A state legislative assembly has 100 total seats. Scheduled Tribes constitute 20% of the state’s population, resulting in 20 seats being reserved for ST candidates.

Core takeaway: Article 332 ensures proportional democratic presence for indigenous communities in state legislatures.

Illustrative Notice: Only registered members of recognized Scheduled Tribes may file nomination papers in ST-reserved constituencies, though all registered voters in the constituency participate in electing them.

4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions

Article 332 secures affirmative political representation across all State Assemblies.

Proportional representation: State-level quotas correspond to census demographic ratios.
Northeastern protections: Special reservation floors protect tribal majorities in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura.
Bodoland safeguard: The proviso to clause (6) (inserted by the 90th Amendment) protects tribal and non-tribal representation ratios in Bodoland Territorial Areas.

5. Operative Constitutional Text

(1) Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam, in the Legislative Assembly of every State. (2) Seats shall be reserved also for the autonomous districts in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam. (3) The number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any State under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State. (3A) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the taking effect, under article 170, of the re-adjustment, on the basis of the first census after the year 2026, of the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any such State shall be,— (a) if all the seats in the Legislative Assembly of such State in existence on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Fifty-seventh Amendment) Act, 1987 (hereafter in this clause referred to as the existing Assembly) are held by members of the Scheduled Tribes, all the seats except one; (b) in any other case, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number (as on the said date) of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the existing Assembly bears to the total number of seats in the existing Assembly. (3B) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the re-adjustment, under article 170, takes effect on the basis of the first census after the year 2026, of the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tripura, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly shall be, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number, as on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Seventy-second Amendment) Act, 1992, of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly in existence on the said date bears to the total number of seats in that Assembly. (4) The number of seats reserved for an autonomous district in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam shall bear to the total number of seats in that Assembly a proportion not less than the population of the district bears to the total population of the State. (5) The constituencies for the seats reserved for any autonomous district of Assam shall not comprise any area outside that district. (6) No person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe of any autonomous district of the State of Assam shall be eligible for election to the Legislative Assembly of the State from any constituency of that district: Provided that for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam, the representation of the Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the constituencies included in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, so notified, and existing prior to the constitution of Bodoland Territorial Areas District, shall be maintained.

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6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations

Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.

Sources & Citation Metadata

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Constitutional TextThe Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)Cited PDF page
Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part XVI, Article 332, printed pages 190–192 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.

Human legal review is pending; compare the text with the cited editionNon-partisan educational resource