Leading judicial and social activists have written an open letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje seeking withdrawal of an ordinance stipulating minimum education qualification for candidates contesting panchayat and zila parishad elections.
Apprehending that The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 will debar more than 80 per cent of the rural populace from contesting elections, the letter termed it as “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
We are deeply distressed… that the ordinance has been promulgated without any consultation or dialogue with political parties or civil society, said over 100 signatories to the letter that included names, such as James Lyngdoh, Former Chief Election Commissioner, S Y Quraishi, Former Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Rajinder Sachar, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, Justice K Chandru, (Former Justice) Madras High Court, Indira Jaising, Former Additional Solicitor General of India, senior journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, activists Baba Adhav and Aruna Roy and EAS Sarma former Secretary, Government of India.
Seeking wider public debate on the issue, the letter points out that 23 of BJP MLAs in the current Vidhan Sabha
are below 10th pass, as are two BJP MPs from Rajasthan. At the same time, almost 20 per cent Cabinet Ministers at the Centre are below 12th Pass.
“Surely, if the Prime Minister finds MPs with such low educational qualifications suitable to devise and implement policies for the entire country, a sarpanch of a small gram panchayat need not be held to such arbitrary and exclusionary standards,” the letter says.
As per the Rajasthan ordinance, promulgated just a few days before the announcement of panchayat polls, the minimum education qualification of secondary education (class 10) is mandatory for candidates contesting Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti polls and class 8 pass is eligible to contest Sarpanch elections.
“Only 18 per cent of rural Rajasthan’s population has studied beyond Grade 5 and only a shockingly low- 5 per cent of rural women have education above grade 5 (Census 2001),’ said the letter, adding that “mere literacy – the ability to read and write with understanding – is only 61 per cent of Rajasthan’s rural population and only 45 per cent literate women in rural Rajasthan (Census 2011). Literacy rates for rural Scheduled Castes are even lower…”, the letter says.