SOCIAL-OBJECTIVES-LADEN ELECTORAL RULES OF PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS (PRIS): A POLITICAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

After 73rd and 74th Amendments, panchayats and municipalities were devolved with more and more functions, functionaries and funds. Hence, their electoral politics has grown in importance and became more competitive, violent and expensive. With the constitutional and statutory provisions for the reservations, they have huge scope for social inclusion. But there are social and economic forces with vested interest which try to hamper the effective participation of women and other weaker sections of the society. In this background, the complex implications of the social objectives-laden electoral rules for PRIs have been analysed from the political justice perspective. A brief survey of emerging electoral politics at the grassroots level in different states locates these positively projected norms in their comprehensive context. These add-on provisions for minimum education, two children and toilets result in exclusion of that target group who need inclusion in decision-making the most. The social objectives can be achieved by increasing the bargaining power and agency of women and marginalised social segments, rather than impinging on their democratic rights.