In which Lok Sabha seat, one of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Shompen tribe, for the first time exercised their democratic right to vote in April 2024 ?
Andaman and Nicobar
The Shompen voted in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lok Sabha constituency — option 4.
What happened. On 19 April 2024, in the first phase of the general election, seven members of the Shompen tribe cast their votes at a polling station in the Great Nicobar island — the first time in history that members of the tribe had voted. The Election Commission had enrolled them and set up a booth for the purpose, and the moment was widely reported as a landmark in electoral inclusion.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Tribe | Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group |
| Where they live | Interior forests of Great Nicobar island |
| Constituency | Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a single Lok Sabha seat |
| Date | 19 April 2024, first phase of polling |
| Population | A few hundred only |
About the Shompen. They are a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer people of the Nicobar group, numbering only a few hundred, and are among the least contacted communities in India. They are one of the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups recognised in the country, a category applied to tribes with a pre-agricultural level of technology, very low literacy, a stagnant or declining population and relative isolation. Four other PVTGs live in these islands: the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese.
Why the other options are placed there. All three are tribal-dominated constituencies — Tripura East and Tura in Meghalaya are seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh has a substantial tribal population — but the Shompen live only in the Nicobars.
Hence, the answer is Andaman and Nicobar.
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