Rajasthan Govt remove education criteria for Panchayat Elections

Rajasthan government has abolished the condition of a minimum educational qualification to contest local body elections in Panchayat Raj such as Sarpanch, Panch and Panchayat Samiti elections. The cabinet also decided on holding the election of mayors and chairman’s in corporations through the direct system instead of the indirect method introduced by the previous government.
As per the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill 2015, Candidates were:

  • Required to have passed Class X for contesting municipal elections, Class VIII for contesting panchayat polls for the post of a sarpanch, and Class X for contesting zila parishad or panchayat samiti elections.
  • Construction of toilets in their homes as mandatory for contesting polls to the panchayati raj institutions in the state.
  • Even Haryana had passed a similar law mandating minimum education qualification for those contesting in Panchayat Raj Institutions. The constitutional validity of this law of Haryana was questioned in the Supreme Court.

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