SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Monday ratified the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2019 which seeks to extend the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies by another 10 years till January 25, 2030.
In Meghalaya, 55 Assembly and 2 Lok Sabha seats are reserved for STs. The lone Rajya Sabha seat is also reserved.
During the special session to pass the bill, Congress MLA and Opposition leader Mukul Sangma stood up to seek clarification from the state government as to why the bill is extended only for 10 years. He also referred to the exclusion of representation by the members of Anglo-Indian community in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
According to Mukul, the government should raise these concerns with the Centre.
He also argued that keeping in the mind the vulnerability of STs and SCs, one voice should emanate from the House to extend the reservation for another 10 years.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the extension of reservation of seats in Parliament and Assemblies is done every 10 years.
He added that it has been a practice of extending the reservation every 10 years starting from 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2010 and 2020.
Replying to Mukul’s comment that there is no more provision to the Anglo-Indian community, Conrad said there are only 295 members of the Anglo-Indian community in the country. While two seats were reserved for them in Lok Sabha, 14 states had given reservation in their Assemblies. However, since their numbers are very small, the reservation was not made applicable.
Compared to this, the population of tribals is 10.43 crore, he said, adding that while the ST population is 8.6 per cent, the SC population is 16.6 per cent.
The bill was earlier passed by both the Houses of Parliament.
Congress MLAs HM Shangpliang, PT Sawkmie, Mayralborn Syiem, George Lyngdoh and KHNAM legislator Adelbert Nongrum and HSPDP member Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar also spoke supporting the bill as the reservation of seats in Assembly is important for the indigenous people of the state.
They said the reservation privilege to SC/ST should be maintained.
