New Delhi : The Congress on Friday welcomed the National Commission of Scheduled Castes’ (NCSC) observation that amendments to the panchayat acts which mandated education qualifications to contest elections, have “impacted adversely on the SCs”.
The party also urged the BJP governments of Rajasthan and Haryana to repeal the same.
“The Congress Party has opposed these anti-Dalit, anti-women and anti-poor amendments from the start because they nullify the 73rd Amendment (to the constitution) which sought to include SCs in self-governance through mandatory reservation, deny marginalised social groups their right to political participation in democracy and state institutions through the democratic process of elections,” party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement issued here.
“The Congress opposed the amendments not just in the respective states but also moved an amendment to the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha during the budget session in March 2016 wherein it was passed with cross-party support in an act of censure to the government – one of the only 5 times in the history of Parliament – despite the personal intervention of the prime
minister,” he added.
The NCSC has observed that the amendments to the panchayat acts of Rajasthan and Haryana have impacted adversely on the SCs by depriving them of the right to contest elections and the right to vote for a candidate of their choice