Democracy ‘Only for the Haves’ in Local Self Governance

AuthorVinod Kumar
DOI10.1177/2277401718787962
Date01 July 2018
Published date01 July 2018
Subject MatterLegislation Review
Democracy ‘Only
for the Haves’ in Local
Self Governance
Vinod Kumar1
Introduction
The legislatures of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana have
recently amended their respective Panchayati Raj Acts to make a functional
toilet mandatory in the house of a contestant in the Panchayat elections. The state
legislatures of Rajasthan1 and Haryana2 have also fixed minimum educational
qualifications for the contestants which have also been extended to urban
local bodies3. Pursuant to the amendment made to the Rajasthan Panchayati
Raj Act, X standard is mandatory for Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti elections,
VIII standard is mandatory for the post of Sarpanch — except in tribal reserved
areas where the minimum statutory qualification education till the V standard4.
Further, two states- Haryana5 and Rajasthan6 have also amended their Panchayat
Raj legislations to debar candidates without functional toilet, from contesting
elections. The state of Haryana added another category of persons disqualified
1 Act No. F 4(1) /2/2014 (passed by Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, 08/12/2014). This has further
been reinforced by an amendment to Section 21 Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009.
2 Act No. 8 of 2015 passed by the Haryana Legislative Assembly amending the Panchayati Raj Act,
1994 inserted clause (v) to Section 175 disqualifying a person, if he has not passed matriculation examination
or its equivalent examination from any recognized institution/board. Provided that in case of a woman candidate or
a candidate for the post of Sarpanch, belonging to Scheduled Caste, and the minimum qualification shall be middle
pass and for the post of Panch, the minimum qualification shall be 5th pass.
3 Section 21 (f) Rajasthan Municipalities (Second amendment) act, 2015, now reads as: ‘if he has passed
secondary school examination of the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan or of an equivalent Board’.
4 Section 19 Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 has also been amended to that effect.
5 By virtue of Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, Section 175 (w) of the Panchayati Raj Act,
1994 now reads as- “if he fails to submit self-declaration to the effect that he has a functional toilet at his place of
residence”.
6 Section 21 (g) Rajasthan Municipalities (Second amendment) act, 2015, now reads as: ‘unless he has
functional sanitary toilet in the premises where he resides and no member of his family defecates in
the open’
Journal of National
Law University Delhi
5(1) 99–108
2018 National Law
University Delhi
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2277401718787962
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jnl
1 Associate Professor of Law, National Law University Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Vinod Kumar, Associate Professor of Law, National Law University Delhi, Delhi, India.
E-mail: vkumar10470@gmail.com
Legislation Review

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