Section 78 in The Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994
78. Constitution of Panchayat Samiti.
(1)Every Panchayat Samiti shall consist of-(a)the directly elected members from territorial constituencies as determined under the Act;(b)the Members of the House of the people and the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the State representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the Panchayat Samiti area;(c)the Members of the Council of States, where they are registered as electors within the Panchayat Samiti area;(d)one-fifth of the Pradhans of Gram Panchayats in the Panchayat Samiti area, by rotation, for such period as the prescribed authority may determine, by lot:Provided that a Pradhan who was a member under this clause for one term shall not be eligible to become member for a second term during the remainder of his term of office as Pradhan;(e)the member of the Zila Parishad, representing the ward which comprises wholly or partly the Panchayat Samiti area.(2)The Pradhans of Gram Panchayat and other members of the Panchayat Samiti whether or not chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the Panchayat Samiti shall have the right to vote in the meetings of the Panchayat Samiti except in the election and removal of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman only the elected members shall have the right to vote.(3)The number of elected members of a Panchayat Samiti under clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall consist of persons elected from the territorial constituencies in the Samiti area as may be notified from time to time by the Government at the rate of one member for every three thousand five hundred population or part thereof:Provided that in a Panchayat Samiti area having a population of not exceeding fifty two thousand five hundred there shall be minimum of 15 elected members:Provided further that where the population of a Panchayat Samiti area is more than one lakh and forty thousand, it shall be divided into territorial constituencies in such manner that the total number of constituencies shall not exceed forty and the population of each constituency shall, as far as practicable, be the same in each constituency:Provided further that the Government may, irrespective of the population of the Panchayat Samiti area, declare, by a notification, that the provisions of this section shall apply to a Panchayat Samiti in a scheduled area, subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be specified by it in such a notification.Explanation. - For the purpose of sub-section (3) of this section the word part thereof shall mean the calculation to the nearest multiple of one-half ignoring less than one half and counting one-half or more as one for determining the population for fixing the seats.(4)Seats shall be reserved in a Panchayat Samiti for the -(a)Scheduled Castes; and(b)the Scheduled Tribes;and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Panchayat Samiti as the population of the Scheduled Castes in that Panchayat Samiti area or of the Scheduled Tribes in that Panchayat Samiti area bears to the total population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat Samiti in such manner, as may be prescribed.(5)One-half of the total number of seats reserved under sub-section (4) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes.(5A)One-half (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat Samiti shall be reserved for women.(6)The State Government may, by general or special order, reserve such number of seats for persons belonging to Backward Classes in a Panchayat Samiti, not exceeding the proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in the Panchayat Samiti as the population of the persons belonging to Backward Classes in that Panchayat Samiti area bears to the total population of that area and may further reserve one-half of the total seats reserved under this sub-section for women belonging to Backward Classes.(7)The seats reserved under sub-sections (4), (5), (5-A) and (6) shall be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the Samiti area in such manner as may be prescribed.
