Draconian effects of removing minimum education qualification to contest local elections.
Rajasthan assembly recently passed two bills which aim to delete certain provisions of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act 2009 and Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act 1994 so as to end the minimum education qualification to contest local body election in the state. In the assembly , during the debate , it was insisted by the government that the object of the amendment is to eliminate the unreasonable restrictions of the voters to contest the election at the grassroots level which. Therefore it is proposed that the restriction of educational qualification for contesting election for the office of sarpanch or a member of Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti be removed. The above said bills when comes into force will delete clause (f) of section 21 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act 2009 which specifically mentions that to contest the municipal elections one should have passed secondary examination and clause (r), (s), (t) of section 19 of the Rajasthan Panchayti ...