R’sthan scraps minimum edu criteria for civic polls

Jaipur, February 11

The Rajasthan Assembly today passed by a voice vote two amendment Bills removing a rider of minimum qualification and allowing illiterate to contest the panchayat raj institute (PRI) and civic bodies elections in the state.

The Rajasthan Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2019, and the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2019, were passed after a brief debate as the Opposition protested against the Congress government’s “ambiguous” farmers’ crop loan waiver scheme since Zero Hour.

PRI Minister and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot said the provision of educational qualification created unreasonable restrictions on the right of voters to contest the election at the grassroots level. “So, it is proposed that the restriction of educational qualification for contesting election for the office of a sarpanch or a member of a zila parishad or a panchayat samiti be removed,” he said.

The previous BJP government had introduced the minimum qualification of Class X for zila parishad/panchayat member election, and Class V or Class VIII for sarpanch in panchayats. Shanti Dhariwal, UDH and Local Bodies Minister, defended the similar amendments in municipal bodies polls by scrapping the minimum qualification conditions. Earlier, the BJP government had put a rider of Class 10 in these polls. — OC