NT Reporter
Panaji
The Goa unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday intensified its push for political reservation to Scheduled Tribes in the Goa
legislative assembly, with the party’s core committee passing a
resolution urging the Centre to expedite the process ahead of the 2027
assembly elections.
Addressing reporters after the core committee meeting, Goa BJP president Damu Naik said the party would actively pursue the matter with the Union government and the BJP central leadership to ensure that reservation for the Scheduled Tribe community is implemented before the next state polls.
Naik said BJP believes that four assembly constituencies should be reserved for Scheduled Tribes based on the 2011 Census population figures. He cautioned that waiting for a fresh census exercise could delay
the process and make it difficult to implement reservation in time for
the 2027 elections.
“The party is committed to ensuring political representation for the tribal community in Goa and will continue to follow up with the Centre on the issue,” he said.
The Parliament had passed the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill in August 2025, and the legislation was subsequently notified by the President of India.
However, the process required for actual implementation of the reservation has allegedly remained stagnant for the past nine months, triggering concern among tribal organisations and leaders.
The demand for speedy implementation gathered momentum during the ‘Prerana Din’ programme held at Ambaulim in Quepem on May 25, where several prominent tribal leaders shared the stage and reiterated the need for political reservation. The event was attended by Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar, Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, MLA Govind Gaude and former minister Prakash Velip among others, where Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reiterated that his government would make all efforts to ensure that political reservation for STs in the state legislative assembly would be implemented before the upcoming assembly polls.
