Annul panchayati raj Act: Dalal

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Strap: Calls it ‘arbitrary, irrational, discriminatory’

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7

Former minister Karan Singh Dalal has written to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya for annulling the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2020, which, he described as, “arbitrary, irrational, discriminatory and unconstitutional”.

He claimed the right to contest for women under the Act had been restricted to 50 per cent, meaning thereby “their right to contest on all seats, which are not reserved, has been snatched away from them”.

“The rationale behind Article 243-D of the Constitution, which allows reservation for women, is to empower women and make local governance institutions more inclusive and participatory,” said the Congress leader.

“The basic idea of reservation is to increase women’s participation in the grassroots democracy, but the present government has diminished the chances of women who want to contest panchayati raj elections,” Dalal said, adding he was against the capping of participation of women to 50 per cent of wards.

The Act says that “a woman who is otherwise qualified to be elected, may contest from such ward of a gram panchayat that receives an even number in the sequential numbering arrived at for that group under sub-section (1) and a person other than woman, who is otherwise qualified to be elected, may contest from such ward of a gram panchayat that receives an odd number in the sequential numbering arrived at for that group under sub-section (1) in any general election and vice versa in the next general election”.