Women taking keen interest in Haryana Panchayat polls

Women in good numbers are filing nominations for the panchayat polls scheduled next month in Haryana, where the minimum qualification criteria will come into play for the first time.
So far, as many as 4,116 candidates have filed their nominations for the first phase of the three-phased elections to Panchayati Raj institutions in Haryana, scheduled to be held on January 10, 17 and 24, a senior state election commission official said today.
Haryana State Election Commissioner Rajeev Sharma said 363 nominations have been received for Member Zila Parishad, of which 199 were of men and 164 of women.
He said, 666 nominations were received for Member Panchayat Samiti, of which 448 were filed by men and 218 by women.

Similarly, 1,131 nominations have been received for the post of Sarpanch, of these 717 were of men and 414 of women, while 1,956 were received for the post of Panch, of which 1,178 by men and 778 by women.
On December 10, the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of amendments to Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which fixes various criteria, including minimum educational qualification for candidates contesting panchayat polls in Haryana.
It upheld the validity of the Act which fixes matriculation as essential qualification for general candidates contesting panchayat polls, while the qualification for women (general) and Scheduled Caste candidates has been fixed at Class VIII.

However, in case of a woman candidate belonging to the Scheduled Caste category, contesting election for the post of Panch, the minimum qualification would be Class V.