UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 48 of 147

Correct — C, Almora.

Uttarakhand elects five members to the Lok Sabha, from Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal, Almora, Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar and Haridwar. Of these, Almora is the seat reserved for Scheduled Castes. It has been so since the 2009 general election, the first held under the Delimitation Commission's 2008 order.

The point to remember: the SC seat moved with delimitation. Up to the 2004 election Haridwar was Uttarakhand's SC-reserved seat. The Commission, applying Article 330's population rule to the 2001 census, made Haridwar a general seat and reserved Almora instead.

Since then Almora has returned Pradeep Tamta (INC, 2009) and Ajay Tamta (BJP, 2014, 2019 and 2024).

• (a)
  Nainital — Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar is a general seat, won by Ajay Bhatt (BJP) in 2019 and 2024. The hazard is the name: a Nainital assembly constituency is SC-reserved, but that is one of the state's 70 assembly seats, not its parliamentary seat.

  Nainital is the right answer to a different question — which Uttarakhand Lok Sabha seat carries a two-district name, Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar.

• (b)
  Haridwar — Haridwar is a general seat today; Trivendra Singh Rawat (BJP) won it in 2024. It is wrong because of timing. From 1977 to 2004 Haridwar was Uttarakhand's SC-reserved seat, and the 2008 delimitation order lifted that reservation.

  Haridwar is the right answer to which Uttarakhand Lok Sabha seat was SC-reserved before the 2008 delimitation.

• (d)
  Pauri-Garhwal — Garhwal, commonly called Pauri Garhwal, is a general seat, won in 2024 by Anil Baluni (BJP). The Pauri assembly segment inside it is SC-reserved, which can make the whole seat look reserved.

  Reservation is fixed constituency by constituency at each tier, so an SC assembly segment does not make the parliamentary seat SC.

  Garhwal is the right answer to which Uttarakhand Lok Sabha seat contains the SC-reserved Pauri assembly segment.

Article 330 reserves seats in the Lok Sabha for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Within each state the reserved seats bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the state's total seats as the SC (or ST) population bears to the state's population. Article 332 applies the same rule to state Legislative Assemblies.

The Constitution fixes how many; a Delimitation Commission decides which constituencies. Under the Delimitation Act, 2002, SC seats are spread across different parts of a state and placed where the SC share is comparatively large, while ST seats go where the ST share is largest.

Article 334 originally limited this reservation to ten years. Successive amendments have extended it, most recently the 104th Amendment (2019), to 25 January 2030.

• Uttarakhand has five Lok Sabha seats: Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal, Almora, Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar and Haridwar.
• Almora is Uttarakhand's one SC-reserved Lok Sabha seat; the reservation has applied since the 2009 general election.
• Haridwar was the SC-reserved seat from 1977 to 2004; the 2008 delimitation order made it a general seat.
• The Almora constituency spans four districts — Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh — and has 14 assembly segments.
• Gangolihat, Bageshwar and Someshwar are the SC-reserved assembly segments inside the Almora Lok Sabha seat.
• Ajay Tamta (BJP) won Almora in 2014, 2019 and 2024; Pradeep Tamta (INC) won it in 2009.
• The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly has 70 seats: 13 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 2 (Chakrata, Nanakmatta) for Scheduled Tribes.
• Article 330 reserves Lok Sabha seats for SC and ST in proportion to their share of a state's population; Article 332 does the same for assemblies.
• The 104th Constitutional Amendment (2019) extended SC/ST seat reservation under Article 334 to 25 January 2030.
• Of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes.
• In Census 2011 Scheduled Castes were 18.76% of Uttarakhand's population and Scheduled Tribes 2.89%.

• Answering from the pre-2008 map: Haridwar was the SC seat from 1977 to 2004, so an older book or a remembered 'Hardwar (SC)' points to the wrong option.
• Mixing tiers: Nainital and Pauri name SC-reserved assembly seats, but the parliamentary seats Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar and Garhwal are general.
• Expecting an ST seat as well: at 2.89% of the population Scheduled Tribes do not earn one of Uttarakhand's five Lok Sabha seats, though two assembly seats are ST-reserved.
• Treating 'Garhwal' and 'Pauri-Garhwal' as two different seats: they are one constituency, and it is general.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Before the Delimitation Commission's 2008 order came into force, which Lok Sabha constituency of Uttarakhand was reserved for Scheduled Castes?

  • (a)Almora
  • (b)Tehri Garhwal
  • (c)Haridwar
  • (d)Garhwal
  Answerc — Haridwar was SC-reserved from 1977 to 2004. Almora fails because its reservation began only with the 2009 election; Tehri Garhwal and Garhwal are general seats and neither was the pre-2008 SC seat, which was Haridwar.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the 70-member Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, how many seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively?

  • (a)13 and 2
  • (b)15 and 3
  • (c)12 and 4
  • (d)13 and 0
  Answera — 13 SC seats and 2 ST seats (Chakrata and Nanakmatta). Options (b) and (c) overstate the counts; (d) drops the two ST seats that exist at assembly level, confusing it with the Lok Sabha, where Uttarakhand's five seats include one SC seat and none for ST.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India provides for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People?

  • (a)Article 330
  • (b)Article 332
  • (c)Article 243D
  • (d)Article 334
  Answera — Article 330 covers the Lok Sabha. Article 332 does the same for state Legislative Assemblies; Article 243D reserves seats in Panchayats; Article 334 sets the time limit on these reservations, now 25 January 2030.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Almora parliamentary constituency of Uttarakhand covers which group of districts?

  • (a)Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh
  • (b)Almora, Nainital, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh
  • (c)Almora, Champawat, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar
  • (d)Almora, Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Bageshwar
  Answera — Almora's 14 assembly segments lie in Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh districts. Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts are represented by other seats, chiefly Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar, which rules out (b) and (c); Chamoli falls in the Garhwal seat, which rules out (d).