Rajasthan Government Strikes Down Minimum Education Required For Contesting Local Body Elections

The Rajasthan government on December 29, scraped off the minimum education qualification required to contest local body elections. The previous Vasundhara Raje government in 2015 had introduced the condition of minimum education requirement necessary for a candidate to contest panchayat and urban bodies’ elections.

Right to participate in elections

The newly elected Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with his cabinet abolished the requirement for minimum educational qualification stressing the right of every individual to take part in the democratic process, reported the Times of India. The Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government had brought the education criteria three years ago.

According to the previous government’s requirements, a contestant was supposed to have a minimum qualification of secondary education (class X) for contesting the Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti polls. To contest the Sarpanch elections, a candidate from the general category was supposed to have passed class Vlll (Class 8), for SC/ST candidate it was class V (class 5).

After abolishing the requirement for minimum education, the Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that the Congress would go along with the direct system of electing mayors and chairman in corporations instead of relying on the indirect method which was embarked by the BJP government, reported The Wire.

Educational Institutes To Be Reopened

In the first cabinet meeting of the newly elected Congress government in the state, it was decided that Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication and Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Law University which were shut down by the previous government will be reopened.

Abolish Government Letter Pads

The Congress has already made it clear that several changes will be made after scrutinising the decisions made by the previous BJP government in the state. The Rajasthan government have decided to form a committee to frame rules for its farm loan waiver scheme. The government has also decided to remove government letter pads, where the photographs of Sangh idealogue Deendayal Upadhyay had replaced the logo of Ashoka Pillars. Sharma while talking about the matter said that the pillars of Ashoka will be present in the centre of letter pads instead of a photograph of any leader or public representative.

The cabinet has also decided to increase old age pension slabs from Rs 500 and Rs 750 per month to Rs 750 and Rs 1,000 per month.

Also Read: 36-Yr-Old Australia-Based Educationist, Wajib Ali, Gets Elected To Rajasthan Assembly