Rajasthan Assembly elections 2018: Congress promises free education to girls, removal of Class X requirement for local polls

Jaipur: Loan waiver to farmers, free education to girls and women, unemployment allowance of up to ₹3,500 to educated youth and pension to elderly farmers are among the promises the Congress has made in its election manifesto for Rajasthan released here on Thursday.

Congress general secretary Avinash Pande, party State president Sachin Pilot, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and manifesto committee chairman Harish Choudhary released the document titled “Jan Ghoshna Patra”.

Mr. Pilot said the Congress had reached out to people in various ways, including on social media, and received nearly 2 lakh suggestions for the manifesto. He said the party aimed to implement the manifesto in a time-bound manner on the formation of a Congress government in Rajasthan.

The ruling BJP has promised a monthly allowance of up to ₹5,000 to unemployed youth in its manifesto released on Tuesday.

‘Rahul model’

Mr. Gehlot said the party’s manifesto was based on the “Rahul model” as people’s suggestions were taken before its drafting. He promised to reopen the universities closed by the BJP government. They were set up by the previous Congress government.

In the manifesto, the Congress said it would like to have agriculture equipment and tractors exempted from the Goods and Services Tax. It said recommendation to bring petrol and diesel under the tax would be made to the GST Council.

Local polls promise

The Congress also promised to do away with the condition of minimum educational qualification for candidates contesting in local body elections in the State.

Mr. Pilot said it was prepared after taking opinions through multiple platforms such as social media. Mr. Choudhary added that the party’s promise to remove the minimum educational qualification condition held true for both urban and rural bodies.

This condition that requires a candidate to have passed Class X for contesting municipal elections was first introduced by the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in 2015.

A candidate contesting the elections to Panchayati Raj institutions for the post of a Sarpanch is required to have passed Class VIII and Class V in tribal reserved areas while for contesting the Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti elections, a candidate is required to have passed Class X.