Supreme Court turns down plea for mandatory rotation of reserved parliamentary and assembly seats

UPDATE - follow-up to Supreme Court rejects plea for rotation of SC/ST-reserved seats in Parliament, Assemblies: The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a plea asking for mandatory rotation of constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and State Assemblies.

Court Ruling

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, refused to interfere with an Allahabad High Court judgment. That judgment had upheld Section 9(1)(c) of the Delimitation Act, which identifies reserved constituencies in areas with a higher SC or ST population.

Petitioner Claims

The petitioner was Jagdish Singh, an elector from the 191-Kadipur Assembly Constituency in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. He had challenged the continued reservation of his constituency, pointing out that it had stayed reserved for nearly seven decades since its creation. He argued that lacking a rotation rule violated Articles 14, 15, and 19 of the Constitution, limited voter choices, and helped a few political families instead of the wider community. He wanted a system like the rotational reservation used for panchayats and municipalities under Articles 243D and 243T.

Observations And Advice

Justice Bagchi noted that voters in a democracy should choose parties based on political ideologies rather than caste or religion. The Bench separated the right to vote from any right to contest from a specific seat, noting that general category candidates can still contest from unreserved seats. The CJI stated that policy changes belong with Parliament, jokingly suggesting the petitioner could also try public protests or persuade public representatives.

Context

Reserved constituencies ensure political representation for historically marginalized communities in legislative bodies. Changing how these seats are allocated requires amendments to existing laws passed by Parliament rather than judicial orders.