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170 sarpanchs elected unopposed in Rajasthan -Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu

No qualified candidates to contest; seven posts fall vacant

Jaipur: The impact of the amended Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 to include minimum educational qualification as an eligibility criteria for contesting the Panchayat elections, is now becoming visible with reports of posts going vacant pouring in from across the State.

Worse, the Sikar police have arrested a gang of people who have reportedly sold fake marks sheets and Transfer Certificates to those aspiring to contest. Investigations, so far, have revealed that contestants from Jalore, Barmer, Sikar and Jodhpur have purchased fake certificates from the gang, though police suspect the number could go into thousands.

In the first two phases of polling, posts of 7 sarpanchs are lying vacant and 170 were elected unopposed - a departure from the 2010 elections-- purportedly there were no educationally qualified candidates to contest. For Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti's 5 and 32 candidates respectively have been elected unopposed.

Dadiya Gram Panchayat in Ajmer and Majawada Gram Panchayat in Udaipur were unable to elect sarpanchs because there were no qualified candidates fulfilling the new educational eligibility criteria under the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Ordinance, 2014 promulgated just days before elections for the Panchayati Raj Institutions were announced.

In Bhadu village of Bhilwara, there were two students of Class VIII who were asked to contest but their nomination were rejected because they were below 18 years of age. At many other places, candidates were elected unopposed because, social activists say, there were no qualified opponents which made the whole exercise of elections futile. Similar reports came in from Chittorgarh as well.

Limited choice

"It is not only the lack of contestants but also the lack of choices which is unhealthy. Not finding an opposition is terrible,'' Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) that challenged the Ordinance in the court, told The Hindu.

The Ordinance which is expected to be ratified in the coming Assembly session because the Bharatiya Janata Party has an absolute majority in the House, makes it mandatory that those contesting for the post of sarpanch should have passed Class VIII exam except in the tribal reserved areas where the qualification is Class V, and Class X for contesting Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti elections.

Though the State Election Commissioner Ram Lubhaya denied having received any such reports, cases of educated people with a non-political bent of mind being coerced into contesting are coming in from all districts, as is the number of those elected unopposed. ``The number of contestants as compared to the previous elections has certainly come down this time, and all such details will come out once a survey is done after the election is over. This is the only way to gauge the impact because not every wants to contest the elections in any case, '' Mr Dey said.

There is miniscule number of people who want to contest elections, and with this criteria the number has gone down further leaving voters with limited choices which goes against the spirit of democracy, Mr Dey explains. The State will have to conduct fresh elections within six months to fill the posts which are vacant as per the law.

Women left out

The petitioners in the case are two women sarpanchs-- Norati Bai and Kamla Meghwal -- who have become ineligible to contest under the new law. The petitioners have claimed that it would take away the rights of the people, particularly women, as in many segments a majority of them have no education. They said that 80 per cent of the State's rural electorate would not be able to contest the polls as they would not meet the norms and about 95 per cent women electorate would be disqualified. Further, of the current block of members, the Ordinance would render ineligible around 3,800 of the 5,000 panchayat samiti members and similarly disqualify 550 of the 1,000 zila parishad members.

According to Mahila Panch Sarpancha Sangathan of Rajasthan, the literacy rate of women in rural areas was only 45.8 per cent which is lower than the national literacy rate of 57.93 per cent (Census 2011). In the tribal areas, the situation is even worse with the literacy rate of women at 25,22 per cent. By introducing minimum educational qualification criteria, the government has excluded non-literate women from the possibility of exercising their political right to contest elections, thereby, defeating the very purpose of the 50 per cent reservation of seats for women in the Panchayati Raj Act, the Sangathan has said.