Press NOTA where panchayat pradhan post reserved, Rajput body tells voters

The Rajput Mahasabha and the General Category Core Group on Friday urged voters to exercise the NOTA option in the panchayat elections next month. A state-level virtual meeting of the Rajput Mahasabha Himachal Pradesh and the General Category Core Group was convened under the chairmanship of state president KS Jamwal on Thursday.

According to a statement issued by Vijay Chandel, representatives of several social organisations attended the meeting and held detailed discussions on issues concerning the forthcoming panchayat elections in Himachal.

Ashok Kumar Sarial, general secretary of the Rajput Mahasabha, told mediapersons that the meeting unanimously resolved to appeal to voters to exercise the NOTA (None of the Above) option for the reserved pradhan posts in the panchayat elections scheduled next month. The decision was taken as a symbolic protest against the existing reservation system.

Members of the General Category Core Group said that choosing the NOTA option was a democratic and peaceful way to express dissent and send a clear message to policymakers through the electoral process. They said that the move was aimed at highlighting growing concern among sections of society regarding the present framework of reservations.

President of the Ex-Servicemen Wing Major Gen Dharamveer Rana (retd) said that the reservation system had not undergone reforms that many had expected. He added that though courts had issued directions, there had been no effective implementation of the creamy layer principle, resulting in genuinely deserving people within the reserved categories being deprived of benefits.

Major Gen Rana said that caste-based reservation should either be abolished or redesigned on economic criteria. Youth wing president Anil Thakur said that public welfare policies must ensure that benefits reach real disadvantaged people.