Reserved seats mean only SC/ST voters can vote in those constituencies.

All voters in the constituency can vote; only the candidates contesting must belong to the reserved category (SC, ST, or in Assam's case, the specific district's Scheduled Tribe).

The reservation formula is fixed forever at one ratio.

Clause (3) ties reservation to population proportion and is meant to be updated via delimitation under Article 170, though special clauses (3A) and (3B) freeze certain northeastern states' ratios until after the first census following 2026.

Article 332 applies uniformly to all Indian states without exception.

It carries special, distinct provisions for Assam's autonomous districts and for Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, differing from the general population-based rule.

The Constitution of India

Article 332

Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States

(1) Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam, in the Legislative Assembly of every State.§

(2) Seats shall be reserved also for the autonomous districts in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam.§

(3) The number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any State under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State.§

(3A) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the taking effect, under article 170, of the readjustment, on the basis of the first census after the year 2026, of the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any such State shall be,—§

(a) if all the seats in the Legislative Assembly of such State in existence on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Fifty-seventh Amendment) Act, 1987 (hereafter in this clause referred to as the existing Assembly) are held by members of the Scheduled Tribes, all the seats except one;§

(b) in any other case, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number (as on the said date) of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the existing Assembly bears to the total number of seats in the existing Assembly.§

(3B) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (3), until the re-adjustment, under article 170, takes effect on the basis of the first census after the year 2026, of the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tripura, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly shall be, such number of seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number, as on the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Seventysecond Amendment) Act, 1992, of members belonging to the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly in existence on the said date bears to the total number of seats in that Assembly.§

(4) The number of seats reserved for an autonomous district in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam shall bear to the total number of seats in that Assembly a proportion not less than the population of the district bears to the total population of the State.§

(5) The constituencies for the seats reserved for any autonomous district of Assam shall not comprise any area outside that district.§

(6) No person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe of any autonomous district of the State of Assam shall be eligible for election to the Legislative Assembly of the State from any constituency of that district§

Provided that for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam, the representation of the Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the constituencies included in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, so notified, and existing prior to the constitution of Bodoland Territorial Areas District, shall be maintained.§

Why this exists

Article 332 extends the constitutional commitment to protective political representation—already given to SCs and STs in Parliament under Article 330—down to the state level. It ensures that historically marginalized communities have guaranteed voices in state legislatures, proportional to their population. The special provisions for Assam's autonomous districts and later for Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura reflect the unique history of tribal self-governance and demographic realities in India's northeast, where strict population-proportion formulas could otherwise reduce tribal representation if applied rigidly, especially amid delayed delimitation exercises.

How courts read it

Courts have generally treated Article 332 as working alongside Article 170 (which governs the total size and reworking of assembly seats) and the Delimitation Commission's exercises. Judicial decisions have emphasized that reservation of seats under this Article must track actual delimitation orders, and have addressed disputes about whether delimitation freezes (extended multiple times, most recently tied to the first census after 2026) unfairly lock in old population data. Cases from Assam involving the Bodoland Territorial Areas District have also required courts to interpret how the constitutional proviso preserves pre-existing ST/non-ST seat representation despite the creation of new autonomous territorial arrangements.

Common misconceptions

Myth: Reserved seats mean only SC/ST voters can vote in those constituencies.
Fact: All voters in the constituency can vote; only the candidates contesting must belong to the reserved category (SC, ST, or in Assam's case, the specific district's Scheduled Tribe).
Myth: The reservation formula is fixed forever at one ratio.
Fact: Clause (3) ties reservation to population proportion and is meant to be updated via delimitation under Article 170, though special clauses (3A) and (3B) freeze certain northeastern states' ratios until after the first census following 2026.
Myth: Article 332 applies uniformly to all Indian states without exception.
Fact: It carries special, distinct provisions for Assam's autonomous districts and for Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, differing from the general population-based rule.