Educational Qualification for Local Bodies

One of the first decisions of the newly elected Rajasthan government has been to scrap the minimum educational qualification criteria for candidates contesting local body elections. This reverses the amendments introduced by the previous government of the BJP in 2015 which required candidates contesting the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections to have passed Class 10 and those contesting Sarpanch elections to have passed Class 8. Further, it disallowed those without functional toilets in their home to contest. Following this, Haryana also introduced similar restrictions for contesting local body elections.

Supreme Court’s Ruling

  • The decisions by the Rajasthan and Haryana governments were widely criticized and also challenged in the courts. However, in December 2015, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Rajbala v. State of Haryana upheld the validity of the amendments to the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act. In a contentious judgment authored by Justice J. Chelameswar, the court held that prescription of educational qualification was justifiable for better administration and did not violate the Right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. The latest decision of the Gehlot government has once again revived the debate on the fairness of having such restrictions.

Arguments on Minimum Qualification

Against

For

1. Citizens are denied the Right to Vote for his choice: Denying the right to contest effectively restricts the right of a citizen to vote for a candidate of her choice since more than half the population is restricted from contesting.

1. In Rajbala case, the Supreme court held that prescription of educational qualification is relevant for “better administration of the panchayats”.Hence, it has judicial backing.

2. It disproportionately disenfranchises the more marginal sections of society which are women, Dalits and poor.

2. It is generally considered that a formally educated administrator makes better decisions. Hence, the leaders at local level must be educated.

3. Citizens can’t be blamed for the failure of the State: In a country like India with unequal access to education, it is cruel to blame citizens for the failure of the state to fulfill its constitutional obligations.

3. An educated leader would be a better role model for the society and would inspire better actions.

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