Uttarakhand polls: 6 illiterates, 40% undergraduates in fray

DEHRADUN: As many as six candidates contesting elections in Uttarakhand are illiterate while almost 40 per cent contestants have declared their

educational qualification

between “5th pass and 12th pass”. The election commission data comes as a shocker to the hill state, whose 57 per cent voters are young and educated. Recently, neighbouring Haryana had passed a law mandating that only those having a “minimum” qualification will be eligible to contest panchayat polls.

In Dehradun, some apolitical groups have come up with “voters’ checklist”, a novel initiative to give an opportunity to the voters to make informed choices. “Using social media and sharing reports of candidates on online portals, we are helping our youth to understand the criminal, educational and financial status of the candidates so that they can cast vote with prior knowledge.

Eight per cent candidates have serious criminal cases against them in the court. All this needs to be told to our voters so that a responsible government is formed in the state,” said Ashish Joshi, senior member of

Uttarakhand Citizen Initiative

, an apolitical group.
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