BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi For Minimum Educational Qualification For Contesting Polls

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Saturday (08 October) advocated for making class VIII pass mandatory for contesting elections while senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer suggested increasing the strength of Parliament to address the long- pending issue of reservation for women.

Speaking at a seminar Women will make the laws: A case for greater political representation, which saw divergent views on this subject, the BJP Lok Sabha MP strongly defended the legislation of Haryana and Rajasthan which require people to have minimum education qualifications for contesting local self government polls, by stating how there has been improvement in child mortality rate due to better understanding of administration.

Lekhi said: Wisdom has no connection with literacy, but a minimum literacy is important for the democratic powers to seep down."

Lekhi also said instead of having 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures, there should be a law making it mandatory for parties to distribute 33 per cent tickets to women.

Subhashini Ali, a CPI(M) Politburo member, who attacked the BJP-ruled Haryana and Rajasthan governments for bringing "regressive" laws which requires people to have minimum education qualifications for contesting local self-government polls.

Defending the legislation of the two states, Lekhi said since the law came into force, child mortality rate has improved, especially in Haryana, as literacy helps in better understanding of administration.

She said there needs to be some kind of sensitivity towards local governance.
Referring to the case of Rajasthan's case, where having a toilet is also a criterion for contesting local body polls, Lekhi asked, "What kind of leadership are you looking at when somebody is insensitive about even having a toilet?"

The BJP MP said the world bank had funded many toilets in Uttar Pradesh.

With the debate over reservation for women going on for more than two decades now, Aiyar said a possible way to increase their strength in Parliament could be by enhancing the number of seats so that even men do not feel they are being discriminated against because of gender.

Talking about the silent revolution, the Congress leader stated that in panchayats, as a result of reservations and as a result of the general empowerment, today in India we have 1.4 million i.e., 40 lakhs elected women. There are more elected women in India at the moment than the rest of the world put together.

(PTI also contributed to this story)