MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 45 of 100

Correct — B, Article 332. It provides for the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of every State (with a special arrangement for the Scheduled Tribes of the autonomous districts of Assam). The number of seats reserved bears, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the SC/ST population of the State bears to its total population — which is why Madhya Pradesh, with a large tribal population, has 47 of its 230 Assembly seats reserved for STs.

• (a)Article 339 — Article 339 deals with Union control over the administration of Scheduled Areas and the welfare of Scheduled Tribes — including a Commission appointed by the President to report on their administration. It creates no reserved seats.
• (c)Article 334 — Article 334 does not create the reservation — it only fixes how long it lasts. The 104th Amendment (2019) extended SC/ST reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies up to 25 January 2030 and discontinued the nomination of Anglo-Indians.
• (d)Article 243D — Article 243D reserves seats for SCs, STs and women in Panchayats — local bodies under Part IX — not in the State Legislative Assembly. (The parallel provision for municipalities is Article 243T.)

Political reservation in India sits in a small, learnable cluster of Articles: 330 reserves seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha, 332 does the same in the State Legislative Assemblies, and 334 fixes the time limit for both. Below the State level, 243D covers Panchayats and 243T covers Municipalities. Crucially, there is no reservation of seats in the Rajya Sabha or in State Legislative Councils, because those Houses are not filled by direct election from territorial constituencies.

All four options are genuine Articles from the same neighbourhood, so elimination has to be by function, not by familiarity: 339 is administration/welfare, 334 is a sunset clause, 243D is local government. Only 332 is about seats in a State Assembly.

• Article 330 — SC/ST reservation in the Lok Sabha; Article 332 — SC/ST reservation in State Legislative Assemblies
• Reserved seats are, as nearly as may be, in proportion to the SC/ST share of the State's population
• Article 334 only sets the deadline — the 104th Amendment (2019) extended SC/ST reservation to 25 January 2030 and ended Anglo-Indian nomination
• There is no reservation of seats in the Rajya Sabha or in State Legislative Councils
• Madhya Pradesh: of the 230 Assembly seats, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 35 for Scheduled Castes
• The 106th Amendment (2023) added Article 332A for one-third reservation for women in State Assemblies, to take effect after a census and delimitation

• Picking Article 334 because it mentions reservation — it only prescribes the time limit
• Extending reservation of seats to the Rajya Sabha or Legislative Councils, where none exists
• Mixing up the legislature Articles (330/332) with the local-body Articles (243D/243T)

MPPSC asks the Article number directly — 'under which Article is X provided' — and often for the SC/ST cluster, since Madhya Pradesh has the country's largest tribal population. UPSC prefers statement questions about who gets reserved seats, for how long, and in which House.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People (Lok Sabha) is provided under which Article?

  • (a)Article 325
  • (b)Article 330
  • (c)Article 332
  • (d)Article 335

  Answer(b) Article 330 — the Lok Sabha counterpart of Article 332.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following bodies has NO constitutional provision for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes?

  • (a)Lok Sabha
  • (b)State Legislative Assembly
  • (c)Rajya Sabha
  • (d)Panchayat

  Answer(c) Rajya Sabha — its members are indirectly elected, so no seats are reserved there.