The main objective of the 73rd Constitutional amendment act was to give wider representation and make the citizen at the grass root level a partner in decision making. Educational qualification criteria affects the representative objective as it make more than 60% of the candidates non eligible. The major reasons against the provisions are as follows:
- i) it unduly restricts a citizen’s right to contest elections and thereby challenges the basic premise of a republican democracy.
- ii) Denying the right to contest effectively restricts the right of a citizen to vote for a candidate of her choice since more than half the population is restricted from contesting
iii) it disproportionately disenfranchises the more marginal sections of society: women, Dalits and poor.
- iv) These restrictions reveal that State governments and courts do not value local governments for their representative character. it reveals that State governments and courts place a premium on administration over representation in case of local governments.
- v) Against the principles and objective of 73rd and 74th CAA.
