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The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday passed a bill to amend the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, to bar daughters-in-law of families involved in encroachment of government land from contesting elections to Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies.
The bill, introduced by Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, was passed by voice vote despite opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which termed the amendment anti-women and alleged that it was aimed at targeting certain individuals. The amendment seeks to expand the definition of family under the existing provisions by specifically including a daughter-in-law. Under the earlier provisions, if a person had encroached upon government land, his son was barred from contesting elections to Panchayats or municipal bodies, while his daughter-in-law remained eligible to contest. With the proposed amendment, the daughter-in-law of a family member found to have encroached upon government land will also be rendered ineligible to contest local body elections. The State Election Commission had recommended changing the definition of family around six years ago, the government said. Opposing the legislation, BJP MLA Randhir Sharma argued that a daughter-in-law comes from a different family and should not be penalised for an act committed by her in-laws. He alleged that the amendment had been brought specifically to target certain individuals. Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur also opposed the bill, calling it anti-women and accusing the state government of curtailing democratic rights and targeting political opponents. Thakur urged the government not to proceed with the legislation out of what he described as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's obstinacy, and warned that the provision would not withstand judicial scrutiny. Responding to the BJP's objections, Anirudh Singh questioned the opposition's stand on the issue of encroachment, saying that people who are themselves barred from contesting elections because of encroachment often field their wives or daughters-in-law instead. He questioned whether a daughter-in-law could be excluded from the definition of a household's legal heirs while enjoying the family's amenities and being an integral part of the household. Singh said the amendment had been brought after obtaining legal opinion and advocated the principle of one state, one law. The minister maintained that the provision was necessary to prevent people declared ineligible from contesting local elections indirectly through their family members. (ANI)
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