The State Government has made it mandatory that the candidates contesting in the Panchayat elections should be literate and install a flush toilet at their residence within a period of one year of their election, officials said.
The move by the Government is in congruence with the ‘Swachchh Bharat Mission’ of the Narendra Modi Government which aims at attaining a 100 per cent open defecation free India by 2019. Additional Commissioner (Development) Ashutosh Mishra in a Press release stated that the Directorate of Panchayat has issued directions mentioning that provisions have been made in this regard in the Panchayat Raj Act 1993.
The Section 36 of the Act states that any person who is not literate will not be eligible for any Panchayat election. But the condition is not applicable for persons above 30 years, the officials said. Similarly if a person is elected in any panchayat, then he or she should have a flush toilet at the residence within one year of his or her election or the elected person will become ineligible, the officials added.