RAS question
The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2026 removes which eligibility restriction for panchayat elections?
Correct answer: (B) Two-child norm.
The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2026 removes the two-child norm as an eligibility restriction for contesting panchayat elections.
Explanation
The amendment is about electoral disqualification under Section 19 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, not a general change to panchayat administration. The official Bill says Section 19 contains general disqualifications for panchayat members and that a person having more than two children was disqualified from being chosen as, or remaining, a panchayat member. The 2026 Bill amends that section by deleting the relevant clause, proviso clause and explanation, because the State Government decided to remove this disqualification. Therefore, the restriction removed by the Bill passed on March 9 is the 31-year-old two-child norm for panchayat elections.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Minimum educational qualification is not the restriction targeted here; Section 19's more-than-two-children disqualification is the eligibility bar being removed.
- (C) The amendment does not alter an age requirement, because the stated change is the deletion of the disqualification linked to having more than two children.
- (D) Property ownership is not mentioned as the removed eligibility bar; the official Bill concerns the two-child disqualification for panchayat membership.
Concept
This tests state-level local self-government law, especially disqualifications for Panchayati Raj elections under a Rajasthan statute. It recurs in RAS because panchayat eligibility rules connect constitutional decentralisation with current Rajasthan governance changes.