Why SC is revisiting a 2003 ruling on two-child norm for panchayat polls

The Indian Express · Amaal Sheikh · 2026-11-06 00:36 UTC

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Javed v. State of Haryana (2003) upheld the disqualification of people with more than two children from contesting panchayat elections. The top court has now referred it to a larger bench for reconsideration.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 4) referred its 2003 ruling in Javed v. State of Haryana, which upheld the disqualification of people with more than two children from contesting panchayat elections, to a larger bench for reconsideration.

A bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said: “We are of the strong opinion that laws that penalise having more than two children have lost their relevance,” adding that the fear of overpopulation on which these laws rest “has crumbled due to demographic changes in the past few decades”.

“It is high time we recall Javed. We cannot ride into the future on a horse that is dead. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change,” the bench said.

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