As per a law passed in the Gujarat Assembly by the Anandiben Patel Government, the candidatures of two for the upcoming local self-Government body polls were rejected for not having toilets at their homes.
According to the law, at least a toilet is a must for contesting local self-Government bodies’ polls in the State.
The Act was passed following the Prime Minister launching the much-talked about cleanliness campaign on October 2 last year.
Sources in the State Election Commission (STC) said candidatures of a Congress member Ashok Talavia contesting from Ajharai Village in Navsari district and a BJP candidate from Songarh of Surendranagar district were rejected for Panchayat elections slated for November 29.
“The reason for the rejection of their candidature is the same — not having toilets at respective candidate’s homes.
As per the law they are not entitle to contest elections. And this is the first such incident,” said an official in the STC.
Meanwhile, a woman candidate was disqualified from contesting the municipality election for having more than two children. Gauriben Sakariya filed nomination papers on a BJP ticket from Ward No. 9 of Botad Municipality. As per the law passed in the State Assembly, any candidate having
more than two children cannot contest local bodies’ elections in Gujarat.
It is worth mentioning that more than 20 candidates of the BJP have already been declared victorious for the local self-Government bodies’ poll to be held on November 22 and 29 for multiple reasons.
In the first phase on November 22 elections of six municipal corporations including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar will be held while in the second phase on November 29 polls for 56 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 230 taluka (tehshil) panchayats will be conducted.