Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India

The Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Act, 1959
Parliament of India
  • An Act further to amend the Constitution of India.
Citation8th Amendment
Territorial extentIndia
Passed byLok Sabha
Passed1 December 1959
Passed byRajya Sabha
Passed7 December 1959
Assented to5 January 1960
Signed byRajendra Prasad
Commenced5 January 1960
Date of expiry26 January 1970
Legislative history
First chamber: Lok Sabha
Bill titleThe Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Bill, 1959
Introduced byGovind Ballabh Pant
Introduced16 November 1959
Related legislation
23rd, 45th, 62nd, 79th and 95th Amendments
Summary
Extended the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies till 1970
Status: Spent

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Act, 1959, amended article 334 of the Constitution in order to extend the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and representation of the Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for ten years, i.e. up to 26 January 1970. Article 334 had stipulated that the reservation of seats should expire within a period of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution (i.e. 26 January 1960).

The 8th Amendment extended the period for reservations to 1970. The period of reservation was extended to 1980, 1990,[1] 2000, 2010, 2020 and 2030 by the 23rd, 45th, 62nd, 79th, 95th and 104th Amendments respectively.

  1. ^ C.L. Anand. Equality Justice and Reverse Discrimination. Mittal Publications. p. 17. Retrieved 26 November 2013.