Telangana CM seeks Lowering of Minimum Age to Contest Polls, Proposes ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Yuva’
Hyderabad, July 26 (TNT): Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday proposed lowering the minimum age for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections from 25 years to 21 years, saying greater participation of youth in the democratic process was essential for nation building.
Interacting with the national media here, the Chief Minister also coined the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Yuva”, stressing that the country’s youth should become active partners in shaping India’s future.
Revanth Reddy urged the Centre to bring a Constitutional amendment to reduce the minimum age for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections to 21 years, and for Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha elections from 30 years to 25 years.
Announcing that a joint session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council would be convened in August, the Chief Minister said the House would deliberate on the proposal and adopt a resolution urging the Centre to amend the Constitution accordingly.
He said the resolution would be forwarded to the Union Government after seeking the views of all political parties.
The Chief Minister also expressed concern over the conduct of national-level examinations such as CBSE, NEET and NET, and urged the Centre to strengthen the examination system in the interest of students.
He demanded withdrawal of cases registered against students during the NEET protests at Jantar Mantar and sought ex gratia for the families of students who allegedly died by suicide following the NEET paper leak controversy.
Revanth Reddy said youth were already serving as IAS and IPS officers, representing people in local bodies and leading global organisations at the age of 21, and therefore deserved adequate representation in legislative bodies as well.
He further suggested that the issue of reducing the minimum age for contesting elections should be considered along with delimitation of constituencies, increase in the number of Parliamentary seats, and implementation of women’s reservation, asserting that expanding the role of youth in democracy was vital for the country’s future.
TNT TS
