The Haryana government will now make it mandatory for aspiring candidates to have passed class 12 for contesting in the municipal elections.
On 10 December, the apex court had upheld the state government's decision to make it mandatory for a candidate to be class 10 pass-out for contesting the panchayat polls.
Illiterates will be banned from contesting in elections.
The Advocate General's office in Haryana had suggested that the minimum educational qualification level for aspiring candidates be set as class 12 if the candidate wants to run for the urban local body elections, as reported by Times of India.
B R Mahajan, the Advocate General (AG) said he advised the government to fix class 12 pass for candidates willing to contest for municipal corporations and class 10 pass for municipal committee's in small towns.
"I gave my suggestion last week to the government and now the chief minister would take a final call. An ordinance in this regard would be promulgated to amend the existing acts," Mahajan told the Times of India.
Haryana has nine municipal corporations: Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panchkula, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Hisar, Yamunanagar and Ambala. There are 19 municipal councils and 50 municipal committees in semi-urban areas, according to TOI.
Elections will be held in 42 of the 78 urban local bodies after the panchayat polls in January 2016.
According to the AG, on getting approval from the state Cabinet, the mandate to amend the Municipal Corporation Election Rules of 1994 and Municipal Election Rules of 1978 would then be announced.
If this happens, Haryana will become the second state after Rajasthan to set mandatory educational qualifications for contestants in civil polls, said the TOI report.
"Prescription of an educational qualification is not irrelevant for better administration of the panchayats. It is necessary that the elected representatives have educational background to enable him/her to effectively carry out the functions assigned to the panchayats," the Supreme Court had stated.
The Supreme Court further added that education gives a power to discriminate between the right and wrong, good and bad, Times of India reported.
