Gangtok: The Limboo Tamang Voluntary Committee on Friday rejected the Sikkim government's proposal for reserving seats in the Assembly for the Limboos and Tamangs and demanded that the quota for the two communities be given not as Scheduled Tribes, but in the same manner seats have been reserved for the Bhutias and Lepchas.

Twelve of the 32 Assembly seats in the state are reserved for the Bhutias and Lepchas not because they are Scheduled Tribes, but as a sequel to a political agreement in 1973 among the Government of India, ex-Chogyal of Sikkim and political parties, which was a precursor to the formal merger of the former kingdom with India in 1975.

LTVC president Yehang Tshong said the government's proposal to increase the numbers of the Aseembly seats from 32 to 40, and reserve five seats for the Limboos and Tamangs was not acceptable to them. "We want seats to be reserved for the Limboos and Tamangs from the present 32. Seats should not be reserved for us as tribals under Article 332 of the Indian Constitution, but as Limboos and Tamangs under the ambit of Article 371F of the Constitution," he said. Article 371F provides special status to Sikkim.

The Limbus and Tamangs were given the tribal status in 2003, but seats for them are yet to be reserved in the Assembly as required by the Constitution of India.

The B. K. Roy Burman Commission set up by the state government in its report in 2008 had recommended that all Nepali speaking communities should be given the tribal status, and the strength of the Sikkim Assembly should be increased from the 32 to 40 seats. The report, which was endorsed by the state government, had also suggested that 20 seats from the increased strength should be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, 12 for Bhutias and Lepchas, 2 for sangha, which is a body of monks, and 2 for the Scheduled Castes.

The Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling in a memorandum submitted to the Centre in 2016 had also made an alternative temporary proposal till such time all the Nepali communities were given the tribal status. The proposal, too, demanded that the number of seats be increased to 40, and 5 seats from the increased pool should be reserved for the Limbus and Tamangs.

Both the Sikkim government and the Sikkim Limboo Tamang Apex Committee (Siltac), which is another lobby of the two communities backed by the Sikkim Democratic Party, have been claiming that their quota demand would soon be met by Delhi.

The LTVC, however, remained sceptical. "We hope the chief minister will ensure seats for the Limboos and Tamangs within two months, as promised by him recently," said Tshong wryly before joining other members of the LTVC in burning the copies of the 2016 state government memorandum as a mark of protest.