In local body elections, like municipal polls, in addition to SC/ST, other Backward Class candidates also have reserved seats.
The constitution-makers, however, were worried that open electoral competition would preclude less populous minority groups from election to the national and the state legislative assemblies.
In India's pre-independence era, in 1906, Muslims demanded extra-proportional representation to seek parity with Hindus in sharing power with the British government; the British government provided for a separate electorate system to the Muslims in the Indian Councils Act of 1909.
Accordingly, the general elections of 1937 were held based on the extended separate electorates, where only Muslims voted for the 117 seats, in Bengal.
The system of separate electorates encouraged sectarian competition, sowing the seeds of the Pakistan movement.
This provision was strongly opposed by Gandhi because he believed the move would disintegrate Hindu society.
Eventually, a compromise was reached between Ambedkar and Gandhi with the Poona Pact, in which the parties agreed that certain constituencies would be reserved for the SC communities, where the people belonging to SC communities could elect four candidates per constituency who would then be candidates for election by the joint electorate.
This right was secured from Jawaharlal Nehru by Frank Anthony, the first and longtime president of the All India Anglo-Indian Association.
[3] In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures of India were abolished by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2019.
This system was introduced by the Constitution of India in 1950 and was supposed to be in place for the first 10 years, to ensure participation in politics by these groups which were deemed weak, marginalized, under-represented and needing special protection.
The overall increase in the population of SCs and STs in the 2001 census has led the Delimitation Commission to increase the seats for Scheduled castes in Lok Sabha from 79 to 84 and for Scheduled Tribes from 41 to 47 out of 543 constituencies, as per the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order of 2008.
[citation needed] As per the enforcement of recommendations of the Mandal Commission, the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) also receive reserved seats in the Rural and Urban bodies election.
[12] Between 1957 and 2019, before the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India, the former 89-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly had 2 seats reserved for the nominated women members.
Additionally, the Lieutenant Governor may nominate two representatives of Kashmiri migrant families to the assembly, one of which is reserved for woman.