A day after scrapping the two-child norm for panchayat elections, the Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to remove restrictions barring individuals with more than two children from contesting municipal body (ULB) elections. The disqualification provision has existed in the state for the past three decades.
The Rajasthan Municipalities Bill, 2026 was passed by a voice vote in the House after a brief debate in which opposition Congress MLAs raised issues of constituency delimitation, corruption in local bodies and the use of old electoral rolls for the upcoming municipal elections.
The passage of the bill paved the way for candidates with more than two children to contest elections to become municipal representatives, mayors and chairpersons of municipalities and municipal councils in urban areas of the state.
The disqualification, removed by an amendment to Section 24 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009, was introduced in the state in 1995 during the government led by then Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. A similar restriction was imposed on panchayat elections, which was lifted by another bill passed in the assembly on Monday.
‘No clarity in polls’
Congress MLA and Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra has asked the state government whether it intends to scrap the two-child norm for a number of schemes from both the Center and the state. “Even after this amendment has been tabled, there is no clarity about the dates of the local polls,” he said.
Responding to the debate, Minister of State for Local Government Jhabar Singh Kharra said the removal of disqualification was a step to ensure greater participation in the democratic process. “It will give those who were previously excluded due to the two-child limit an opportunity to participate in the elections,” he said.
Mr. Kharra said the state government is capable of holding concurrent elections to municipal bodies under the ‘one state, one election’ system, but it has to fulfill the condition of providing reservation to Other Backward Classes. For this, it was mandatory to wait for the report of the OBC commission, he said.
Speaker Vasudev Devnani adjourned the assembly to sine after the bill was passed while the budget discussion ended. The Bill also amended Section 2(xix)(a) of the 2009 Act by removing leprosy from the list of dangerous diseases notifiable under the Act. The aim of the amendment was to eliminate discrimination against lepers or cured persons.
Published – 10 March 2026 22:24 IST
