Rajasthan: Candidates for local body polls must have toilets in home

After introducing minimum education qualifications in the panchayati raj polls in January this year, the state government is set to implement it in the upcoming local body polls next month. Governor Kalyan Singh Tuesday gave his nod to an ordinance making it mandatory for contestants in the upcoming polls to have studied at least till Class X and to have toilets in their homes. Elections to 129 local bodies are scheduled to be held early next month.

The ordinance was cleared by the state cabinet on Monday and sent to the Governor immediately anticipating that the state election commission would announce the poll dates any time now. The state government in an official statement on Tuesday said that it would be mandatory for candidates to have completed Class X to contest the municipal polls and they would also have to produce an affidavit stating that they have a toilet at home.

“In the recent zila parishad polls, 33 percent candidates were Class X pass whereas now the figure stands at 70 percent and in panchayat samiti the figure has gone up from 18 percent to 54 percent. Seeing this rise, we introduced the criterion even for the municipal polls,” said Rajendra Singh Rathore, Health Minister and government spokesperson.

The eligibility criteria imposed in the panchayat polls in January had met with stiff opposition from candidates as well as the Congress. After the polls a large number of police complaints were filed against the elected representatives alleging submission of fake transfer certificates by them.