Under which one among the following Articles of the Constitution of India, the seats are reserved for the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe in every Municipality?

Correct — C, 243-T. Part IX-A of the Constitution, inserted by the Seventy-fourth Amendment of 1992, runs from Article 243-P to Article 243-ZG and governs municipalities. Article 243-T is the reservation article: seats are reserved in every municipality for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their share of the municipal population, at least a third of all seats are reserved for women, and a State legislature may also reserve seats and chairperson posts for backward classes. The parallel provision for panchayats is Article 243-D in Part IX, and the two are worth learning as a pair.

• (a)243-R — Article 243-R deals with the composition of municipalities — that members are chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies called wards, and how a State may provide for representation of others.
• (b)243-S — Article 243-S provides for the constitution of Ward Committees in municipalities with a population of three lakh or more.
• (d)243-ZA — Article 243-ZA places the superintendence, direction and control of municipal elections with the State Election Commission. It is about who conducts the poll, not about who the seats are held for.

The Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Amendments of 1992 built two mirror-image Parts into the Constitution. Part IX covers panchayats and Part IX-A covers municipalities, and the same subjects appear in both in the same order — composition, reservation of seats, duration, disqualification, powers, finance commission, audit, elections. Article 243-Q sets up three classes of urban body: a Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban, a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area and a Municipal Corporation for a larger one.

The four options are neighbours, so the safest route is to remember the order of subjects rather than the letters. Composition comes first at 243-R, ward committees next at 243-S, reservation at 243-T. Cross-checking against the panchayat Part helps: reservation there is Article 243-D, and the numbering of the two Parts marches in step, with Part IX-A simply shifted along by the letter prefix.

• Part IX-A, Articles 243-P to 243-ZG, was inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992.
• Article 243-T reserves seats in every municipality for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population.
• At least one-third of all seats in a municipality are reserved for women, and this includes the seats reserved for SCs and STs.
• The corresponding reservation article for panchayats is Article 243-D in Part IX.
• Article 243-Q provides for Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Municipal Corporations.

• Answering 243-D, which is the reservation article for panchayats rather than municipalities.
• Confusing 243-R, on composition, with 243-T, on reservation.
• Treating the one-third women's reservation as additional to the SC and ST quota; it is carved out of the same seats.

Straight Article-number recall, with three neighbouring Articles from the same Part supplied as distractors.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every panchayat is provided for by

  • (a)Article 243-B
  • (b)Article 243-D
  • (c)Article 243-K
  • (d)Article 243-T

  Answer(b) Article 243-D — the panchayat counterpart of Article 243-T for municipalities.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following Articles provides for the constitution of Ward Committees in larger municipalities?

  • (a)243-Q
  • (b)243-R
  • (c)243-S
  • (d)243-U

  Answer(c) 243-S — Ward Committees are required in municipalities with a population of three lakh or more.