Two petitions in SC oppose Rajasthan’s ordinance on civic polls

JAIPUR: Two petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court opposing an Ordinance recently passed by the Rajasthan government mandating candidates contesting the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls to be class X pass while those contesting for the post of the sarpanch to be class VIII pass.

While one of the petitions has been filed by a person affected by the new law, the other has been filed by social worker and activist Aruna Roy and the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The petitioners have approached the Supreme Court directly as the High Court was closed because of winter holidays. The first petitioner is Naurti Bai, the sarpanch of Harmada village in Ajmer who is an uneducated Dalit woman. Under the new law, she will have to forgo the seat this year.

The petition filed by Aruna Roy and ADR argues that the ordinance violates the people's right to contest elections. Activists claim that while about 80 % of the Rajasthan rural electorate will not be able to contest the polls as they do not meet the norms, about 95 % women electorate will be similarly disqualified.

They also claim of the current block members, the Ordinance will render ineligible around 3,800 of the 5,000 and similarly disqualify 550 of the 1,000 zila parishad members.

Filing of nominations for these local level elections is scheduled to start from January 3.