RS adopts Motion of Thanks to President's address but with amendment

The Opposition on Wednesday embarrassed the Centre in Rajya Sabha by adopting an amendment to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

Congress' leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad had moved an amendment against making educational qualification mandatory for contesting panchayat elections, hoping opposition members will rally together as the change hits grassroots level politics.

"Making educational qualification mandatory for contesting panchayat elections impacted the Dalit men and women.. it also impacted the minorities and the backwards as well. This amendment by the BJP has inhibited the backwards to contest the elections of Sarpanch and Panchayat. Many of the seats of the Panchayats in Rajasthan and Haryana were lying vacant due to this archaic law," Azad told the media here.

"That is why I had moved a resolution on behalf of the party because we feel that there should have been a paragraph and the Centre has failed to fulfill the aspirations of people of this country," he added.

The law in some BJP-ruled states like Haryana and Rajasthan makes mimimum educational qualification necessary to contest local elections.

The "minimum" education required for eligibility to contest in a panchayat election is completion of matriculation in case of general candidates; completion of Class 8 for a woman candidate or a candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste; and completion of Class 5 pass for a Scheduled Caste woman candidate contesting for the post of 'Panch'.