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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Bihar sets aside mandatory toilet clause for panchayat polls
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Bihar sets aside mandatory toilet clause for panchayat polls

The move aims to ensure that economically weaker sections, who may not necessarily have toilets in their homes, are able to contest the polls

A file photo of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
A file photo of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: In a crucial decision, the Bihar cabinet on Tuesday decided to set aside a law that made it mandatory for anyone wishing to contest Panchayat elections to have a toilet in their home.

Panchayat elections are due next month.

Tuesday’s decision is meant to ensure that economically weaker sections, who may not necessarily have toilets in their homes, are able to contest the polls.

The government, however, did not rule out the imposition of the law at a later stage if needed.

According to Brajesh Mahrotra, principal secretary in the cabinet coordination department, the decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet presided over by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The compulsory toilet rule is part of the Bihar Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015, passed by the state legislature on 5 August last year.

Explaining Tuesday’s waiver, Kapil Deo Kamat, Bihar minister for Panchayati Raj department, said: “This was done mainly keeping in mind that a lot of people from economically weaker sections came to us and told us that they will get excluded and that there was very little time left for constructing toilets till the polls next month."

“The government continues to be committed to its promise of building toilets for all and in fact this decision makes our resolve stronger to ensure that people are not left out. We will review it after the polls -- whether it should be implemented again or not" Kamat added.

The decision taken by the state government comes less than two months after the Supreme Court in December upheld a Haryana law listing several conditions that Panchayat election candidates must meet. The Haryana law requires a candidate to have minimum educational qualifications, a functional toilet at home, a clean record in loan repayments and payment of electricity bills and have no court charges against their name for a grave criminal offence.

The apex court’s decision has triggered a nationwide debate on the issue.

In Bihar, the decision to impose the toilet clause was taken three months before assembly elections last year, which was won by the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance comprising the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Congress.

Experts say that the Bihar cabinet’s decision is political.

“This is a purely political decision. The clause of toilets was brought in just before the polls because then ‘good governance’ was an agenda and now it has been removed because a coalition government is in power and (RJD leader) Lalu Prasad’s core support base of backward classes cannot be ignored," R.N. Sharma, head of the department of sociology at Patna University said.

“In any case, on the ground implementation of this decision would have been impractical and difficult given that a very large population in the state does not have access to sanitation."

PTI contributed to the story.

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Published: 02 Feb 2016, 09:42 PM IST
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