Got three children? Can’t run for office

Patna High Court rules in favour of Bihar’s 2007 law for civic polls

Alocal court in Bihar has ruled that people with three children can’t contest the local body polls while dismissing the plea challenging the municipal law enacted by the state government.

A division bench of the Patna High Court comprising Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Sudhir Singh made these observations on Tuesday, while hearing a writ application filed by Brahmanand Singh.

Singh had challenged the legality and validity of the law describing it as a violation of people’s fundamental rights.

Population boom

However, the counsel of the State Election Commissioner Amit Srivastava justified the act, saying it was aimed at containing population boom. After hearing both sides, the court dismissed the plea ruled in favour of the state government.

The Bihar government passed a municipal law in 2007 under which any person having more than two children after April 1, 2008 would be declared unfit for contesting the local civic body polls.

“A person shall be disqualified for election or after the election for holding the post as member of the municipality if such person has more than two living children,” the Bihar Municipal Act states.

The law has proved a bane for two councillors who lost their jobs for having more than two children.

In 2014, an elected people’s representative in Bihar was removed from the post for bearing three children.

Councillor Ravi Shankar Kumar lost his job after he concealed information about himself being the father of three children in a written affidavit filed before the state election commission (SEC).

Another councillor, Arun Ravidas, was ejected from office in 2011 when he bore a third child after being elected. He had only one daughter when he contested the election for ward councillor seat in 2007 but later became the father of two more daughters, unmindful of the new legislation, thus costing him his job.