Repetition of reservation is valid when necessitated by the systematic application of statutory rotation rules.

The petitioner challenged the allocation of a reservation seat for "unreserved (woman)" in Bajana village for the year 2026

Historically, the seat was allocated to an SEBC (woman) in 2015 and an unreserved (woman) in 2020

The petitioner contended that the repeat allocation of the "unreserved (woman)" category in 2026 demonstrated a lack of rotation, rendering the allocation improper

The Respondent Election Commission maintained that the allocation was performed in strict accordance with the statutory rules governing rotation

Whether the repeat allocation of an "unreserved (woman)" reservation to Bajana village in 2026 violated the mandatory rotation principles established under the 1994 Rules

The court primarily applied the Gujarat Taluka and District Panchayats Election (Manner of Allotment of Reserved Seats by Rotation) Rules, 1994 (“the 1994 Rules”), specifically Rules 4, 5, 7, and 9

Rule 7 dictates the serial allotment of remaining seats (including those for women) to electoral divisions after SC, ST, and SEBC allocations are completed

The proviso to Rule 7 mandates that where more than one seat is to be allotted in a taluka, the Commission must allot remaining odd-numbered seats (1st, 3rd, etc.) to women to ensure representation remains approximately one-half of the total seats, ensuring rotation across different divisions

The court analyzed the operation of the proviso to Rule 7 in conjunction with the Election Commission's duty to rotate seats across an entire district

It noted that while Bajana village saw a repetition of the "unreserved (woman)" category, this was not an administrative error but an "inevitable repetition" caused by the mathematical application of the Rules

The court reasoned that because the Commission must ensure rotation across all constituencies within a taluka and district, the specific sequence of allotment required by the proviso to Rule 7 occasionally necessitates a repeat category in a specific division to maintain the broader statutory balance of one-half female representation

Consequently, the court found that the Election Commission correctly followed the legal framework, and the repetition was a necessary consequence of the rotational formula

Finding no fault in the Election Commission's allocation process, the court dismissed the writ petition