The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new law in Haryana mandating a minimum educational qualification for candidates contesting panchayat polls, reported The Indian Express. Dismissing petitions that had challenged its validity, a bench led by Justice J Chelameswar ruled that the new law is constitutionally valid and cannot be quashed on the ground of violating fundamental rights of individuals who seek to contest the local polls. It also held that the state legislature was empowered to usher in the new law under the legislative scheme.

The Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 requires that general candidates must have passed Class X examination while women and Dalit candidates need to have cleared Classes VIII and V, respectively. Earlier, the state government had turned down a suggestion to drop the educational criteria, saying that it would rather want the apex court to legally examine the validity of the amendment. The state government had argued that the Haryana government’s move was a “progressive step”, which the Parliament should also follow eventually.