Scheduled Tribe entry interpretation limits coverage to communities with affinity to the principal tribe named in the Schedule.

A Scheduled Tribe entry that groups communities under a principal tribe covers only those communities sharing affinity with that tribe, and tribal status remains confined to communities specified by presidential notification and altered only by Parliament. Applying this scheme to Entry 18 after the 1976 amendment, the Court treated the listed communities as linked to Gond rather than as an independent Mana entry. The omission of the word "including" did not expand the Schedule to cover every group called Mana, and the appellant's own evidence showed no affinity with Gond. He was therefore not a Scheduled Tribe candidate for the reserved seat, and the election was validly set aside.

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Issues: Whether the appellant, claiming membership of the Mana community, was entitled to be treated as a Scheduled Tribe under Entry 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 after the 1976 amendment, and therefore qualified to contest a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Analysis: The constitutional scheme under Articles 332, 342 and 366(25) confines Scheduled Tribe status to tribes or tribal communities specified by presidential notification and modified only by Parliament. Section 5(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires a candidate for a reserved seat to be a member of the relevant Scheduled Tribe. The amended Entry 18 grouped several communities under Gond, and the Court held that the communities listed against a single entry are those having mutual affinity with the principal tribe named in that entry. The omission of the word "including" did not enlarge the entry so as to cover every community called Mana. Parliamentary history and the structure of the Schedule showed no intention to create an independent Mana entry or to include Kshatriya Bidwaik Mana, which had no affinity with Gond. The appellant's own evidence confirmed the absence of such affinity.

Conclusion: The appellant's community was not covered by Entry 18, and he was not qualified to contest the reserved constituency.

Final Conclusion: The election was validly set aside, and the appellant had no entitlement to the reserved seat as a Scheduled Tribe candidate.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a Scheduled Tribe entry groups communities under a principal tribe, the listed communities are those having affinity with that tribe, and a community lacking such affinity is not included unless separately specified.

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