Plea in Madras HC: Make graduation minimum qualification to fight TN polls

A petition was filed in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking fixing graduation as the minimum educational qualification for people contesting local body elections in Tamil Nadu.

When the plea came up before the court, justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahmed ordered the issuance of notice to the state government and posted the matter for further hearing next week.

The petitioners, all students of law, submitted that educational qualification had to be fixed for those contesting the civic elections.

In states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar, a minimum qualification had been fixed for the local body representatives, they submitted.

The state administration had been modernised with the introduction of computers, the petitioners said, adding several schemes, undertaken by the councillors, could not be implemented effectively because they were not educationally qualified.

At least, a degree should be fixed as a minimum qualification, they said.