11 non-BJP parties join hands on PIL on edu criterion in SC

Expressing resentment over the Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje government's ordinance for making compulsory criterion of education for candidates in ongoing Panchayati Raj polls, 11 non-BJP political parties today joined hands to file an intervening petition with the PILs coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court tomorrow.
"Barring ruling BJP, 11 political parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janta Dal factions, Communist parties and others have joined hands against the education criterion ordinance issued by the BJP government for Panchayat polls, and decided to file an intervening petition with the main PIL pending for hearing tomorrow in the Supreme Court," PCC President Sachin Pilot said here.

Abhishek Singhvi, the noted lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP, will file the joint intervening petition by all intervenors tomorrow, Pilot said.
"The ordinance was unconstitutional and illegal on the eve of Panchayat Raj polls which are underway, and hence it was decided by all non-BJP political parties to fight it out legally," Pilot said.
Two petitions filed in the Supreme Court to oppose the Rajasthan government's ordinance mandating minimum education qualifications for candidates contesting Panchayat polls would be heard tomorrow, January 5.
One of the two petitions was filed by an affected person Naurti Bai, Sarpanch of Harmada village in Ajmer, who is an uneducated Dalit woman, while the another PIL was moved by a social worker and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).