Chandigarh; Congress leader Bhupinder Singh
Hooda today said before fixing minimum qualification for MPs
and MLAs to contest polls, priority should be to achieve 100
per cent literacy in the country.
His reaction came a day after the Haryana government
wrote to the Centre to fix minimum educational qualification
for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative
Assembly (MLAs) to contest elections.
"We are living in a democratic set up where less educated
or even uneducated have the right to contest. I think before
we suggest that minimum qualification criteria be put in
place, our first target should be to make the country 100 per
cent literate," the former chief minister of Haryana said.
"Once we achieve that, we can think of fixing
qualification criteria. Otherwise, in the present scheme of
things, if such a criteria is fixed, it may bar many
candidates who otherwise may be equally capable as the
educated ones," Hooda, who has been a Lok Sabha member from
Rohtak, reasoned.
Speaking at an event in Panchkula yesterday, Haryana
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said, "..we have
written a letter to the central government that minimum
qualification should be fixed for MPs and MLAs to contest
elections".
The state government's earlier decision to fix minimum
qualification of panchayat representatives had received
widespread praise.
PTI
