The phrase "Short Distance" has been wrongly construed by most of us. This is much of a relative phrase and the meaning to this can vary from the understanding between person to person.
For example, a 100 KM journey on a train which covers 500 km. from start to end is nowhere equivalent to another 100 KM journey for a train which covers 2000 km. journey from end to end.
Just because, someone is traveling a distance which might be less than what we usually see here in the PNR Forum does not...
more... guarentee that he would be eligible for a confirm berth.
As rightly said here, it is the quota(Total number of ARP Berths) and the distribution of berths (Berth forwarding/Berth multiplexing, if any) which matters the most.