Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure that assembly seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community before the next assembly elections in 2027. Sawant met Shah along with ST community MLAs, Goa Assembly Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar, and BJP state president Damodar Naik.
The Chief Minister stated that Shah assured the delegation that the ST reservation process will be completed as soon as possible and seats will be reserved for the ST community. “Shah assured us to look into the legal aspect of reserving the seats and fast-track the process,” Sawant said.
Recently, a BJP delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer to expedite the process of reserving assembly seats in Goa for the ST community. The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have passed the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Goa Assembly Constituencies Bill, 2025, which aims to provide ST reservation in the next assembly elections. The bill is likely to reserve around four seats for the ST community in the 2027 state assembly elections. It will now be sent to the President of India for assent, having been passed by both houses in August 2025.
With elections approaching, the BJP is actively working to reserve seats for the ST community. During the delimitation in 2002, the ST community in Goa did not receive reservation in the assembly due to insufficient numbers. However, the addition of new tribes — Kunbi, Gawda, and Velip — to the scheduled tribes list has significantly increased their population. The ST community is now estimated to be 1.5 lakh, and the number of reserved seats will be based on the revised population figures.
In addition to the meeting with Shah, Sawant also met Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss key projects under the railways, IT, and telecom ministries. Sawant urged the minister to support the Tuem Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) through the IT ministry and received a positive response. The Chief Minister also requested the inauguration of the Tuem project as soon as possible. On railways, the state government urged the Centre to undertake maintenance work on the Goa-Mumbai Konkan railway route and add new trains on the route.
Sawant also met Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to discuss recruitment-related concerns at the National Institute of Technology, Goa. “He assured to address the matter in the interest of Goa at the earliest,” the Chief Minister said.
