Election laws, rules. procedures: India

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Minimum age of candidates

‘Can’t take call on min age to contest’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009

New Delhi: Why not change the age limit for contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections to 21 years from the stipulated 25 years, when the age of voting has been reduced from 21 years to 18 years?

On Monday, this question from a PIL by one Kumar Gaurav left a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and justices R V Raveendran and Deepak Verma thinking for a while. But, it countered the petitioner by asking: “What is the hurry? Why not have some experience of politics before entering the fray?” Well the counsel for the petitioner was not to be deterred and said it was the people’s fundamental right to choose a profession and politics has become one. He said most of the countries around the world have reduced the age limit for people’s representatives to 18 years and India should follow suit.

The bench said: “But this would require amendments to several Articles of the Constitution which prescribe the age limit. Can the SC do it? We do not have powers to reduce the minimum age stipulated for persons to contest Lok Sabha or assembly elections.”

Minimum education qualification for contestants

SC disagrees

The Times of India, September 22, 2015

AmitAnand Choudhary 

SC frowns on edu bar for Haryana poll

The Supreme Court expressed concern over recent laws framed by some state governments fixing minimum education qualification for people to contest local body elections and questioned its validity as it would bar majority of the population from the contest. “Let's settle the issue as it would be followed across the country ,“ a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre said while hearing a plea questioning the validity of a law passed in Haryana mandating educational qualification -Class 10 for men, Class 8 for women and Class 5 for Dalits -for those contesting panchayat polls. Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state, contend ed that it was a progressive law and the SC should not interfere. The bench then referred to Article 326 of the Constitution, which lays down the grounds for disqualification, and asked, “Can a legislature prescribe other ground for disqualification? It needs to be examined.“

After a brief hearing, the bench said it would allow the election process if the state agreed to drop education qualification criteria and asked the AG to take instructions from the government.