Section 4 in The West Bengal Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2012
4. Amendment of section 94.
- For sub-section (2) of section 94 of the principal Act, the following sub-section shall be substituted :-"(2) The Panchayat Samiti shall consist of the following members, namely :-(i)Pradhans of the Gram Panchayat within the Block, ex-officio;(ii)such number of persons not exceeding three as may be prescribed on the basis of the number of voters in hill areas and other areas to be elected from each Gram within the Block, the Gram being divided by the prescribed authority for the purpose into as many constituencies as the number of the persons to be elected, and the election being held by secret ballot at such time and in such manner as may be prescribed from amongst the persons, whose names are included in the electoral roll pertaining to the area comprised in the Block, prepared in accordance with such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf and in force on such date as the State Election Commissioner may declare for the purpose of an election by persons whose names are included in such electoral roll pertaining to the constituency comprised in such Gram :Provided that seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in a Panchayat Samiti and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be and in accordance with such rules as may be made in this behalf by the State Government, the same proportion to the total number of seats in that Panchayat Samiti to be filled up by election as the population of the Scheduled Castes or of the Scheduled Tribes or of the Backward Classes as the case may be, in that Panchayat Samiti area, bears to the total population of that Panchayat Samitis area and such seats shall be subject to allocation by rotation, in the manner prescribed, to such different constituencies having Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes population which bears with the total population in that constituency not less than half of the proportion that the total Scheduled Castes population or the Scheduled Tribes population or the Backward Classes as the case may be, in that Panchayat Samiti area, bears with the total population in that Panchayat Samiti area :Provided further that as nearly as practicable one-half but not exceeding one-half the total number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes, as the case may be :Provided also that as nearly as practicable one-half but not exceeding one-half the total number of seats, including the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in a Panchayat Samiti shall be reserved for women, and the constituencies for the seats so reserved for women shall be determined by rotation, in such manner as may be prescribed :Provided also that notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this sub-section, when the number of members to be elected to a Panchayat Samiti is determined. or when seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes in a Panchayat Samiti, in the manner as aforesaid, the number of members so determined or the number of seats so reserved shall not be varied for two successive general elections :Provided also that no member of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or the Backward Classes and no women for whom seats are reserved under this sub-section, shall, if eligible for election to a Panchayat Samiti, be disqualified for election to any seat not so reserved :Provided also that such division into constituencies shall be made in such manner that the ratio between the population of a Block and the number of constituencies in the Panchayat Samiti shall, so far as practicable, be the same in any Panchayat Samiti :Provided also that the State Election Commissioner may, at any time, for reasons to be recorded in writing, by order, direct the prescribed authority to make fresh determination, of the number of members in a Panchayat Samiti or fresh reservation on rotation of the number of seats in that Panchayat Samiti and, on such order being issued by the State Election Commissioner, the determination of the number of members or the number of seats to be reserved or the sequence of rotation of reservation of seats or any combination of them as may be specified in such order shall not be varied for the next two successive general elections :Provided also that provisions for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution of India and the provisions for reservation of seats for the Backward Classes shall cease to have effect from the date on which the State Legislature by enactment decides so in this behalf;(iii)(a)members of the House of the People and the Legislative Assembly of the State elected thereto from a constituency comprising the Block or any part thereof, not being Ministers;(b)members of the Council of States, not being Ministers, registered as electors within the area of the Block; and(c)members of the Zilla Parishad, not being Sabhadhipati or Sahakari Sabhadhipati, elected thereto from the constituency comprising any part of the Block.".
