Question
What is the difference between the system of reservation of constituencies and the system of separate electorate? Why did the Constitution makers reject the latter?
Solution
I. There is much difference between the system of reservation of constituencies and the system of separate electorate. Separate electorate have been a curse to India. In the British period it was started by the British government that the Muslims, Sikhs and some other minorities select their representatives by their own separate vote. But it was most harmful. As a result the nation resorted to the partition (in India and Pakistan). So after partition, in India, the reservation of constituencies for the oppressed social group was adopted. In separate electorates, the candidates are elected by those voters who belong to that particular community. But in the system of reservation of constituencies all voters in a constituency are eligible to vote but candidates must belong to only a particular community for which the seat is reserved. The constitution provides for reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
This provision was made initially for a period of 10 years and as a result of successive constitutional amendments has been extended upto 2010. Today of the 543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha, 79 are reserved for scheduled castes and 41 are reserved for scheduled tribes.
II. The latter was rejected by the constitution makers because they were aware that the system of separate electorate destroyed the spirit of national integration.
