In compliance with the Supreme Court orders, Haryana State Election Commission has directed all the Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Election Officers (Panchayat) that the nominations would be received as per the orders of the apex court.
A spokesman of the Commission said that receipt of the nomination paper would be issued with remarks “Nomination received subject to outcome of W.P.C 671 of 2015 pending in the Supreme Court of India”.
Following this, nomination papers can be submitted by anyone who is eligible for contesting elections as per the previous rules but the nomination would be accepted/finalized according to the final decision of the Apex Court.
On the basis of information received from 13 districts of Haryana till late evening, a total of 735 nominations have been received for Member Zila Parishad on the fourth day of filing nomination papers for Panchayat Elections-2015. These 735 nominations included nominations of 455 male and 280 female.
925 nominations have been received for Member Panchayat Samiti which included nominations of 602 male and 323 female. Similarly, 1139 nominations have been received for Sarpanches which included nominations of 732 male and 407 female and 2151 for Panches which included 1440 male nominations filed by and 771 female.
The Supreme Court decision on Thursday to stay the recent changes of mandatory minimum educational qualification for contesting elections had come as a major setback for the Manohar lal Khattar-led BJP government in the state.
The legislation that was passed in the state Assembly had made minimum educational qualification and toilets at residences of candidates preconditions for contesting elections to the panchayati raj institutions. It had also debarred defaulters of electricity bills, cooperative loans and those chargesheeted for offences punishable with imprisonment for not less than 10 years from contesting panchayat elections.
Welcoming the SC order, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said that imposing of education clause was a mistake on the part of the BJP government while INlD leader Dushyant Chautala had tweeted, “It’s a victory of democracy. SC stays amendments. Govt should immediately reverse the orders and allow fair participation of all in the panchayat elections.