Court no to illiterates from contests |
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court has held that illiterates can be barred from contesting polls saying that it is a reasonable restriction on people`s constitutional right to contest polls.The court upheld Haryana govt`s decision to fix minimum educational qualification for contestants in Panchayat polls. It also upheld state govt`s decision that polls aspirant must have toilets in their homes to be eligible to contest polls. The court dismissed plea of a bunch of women contestant challenging the validity of a law mandating educational qualifications - Class 10 pass for men, Class 8 pass for women and Class 5 pass for Dalits - for those contesting panchayat polls, terming it a device to deprive an overwhelming majority of the population from taking part in grassroots-level elections.The women from Fatehabad, Hissar and Jhajjhar moved the court challenging the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, saying 83.06% of rural women above 20 years of age in the state would be disqualified from contesting panchayat polls as they did not possess the requisite educational qualification. Almost 67% of women in urban areas will also be disqualified," they said.
|
|
|
|