The Supreme Court has said laws that disqualify people with more than two children from contesting local body elections have lost their relevance, and has referred its 2003 ruling upholding them to a larger bench.

What the court said

  • Judgment delivered on 4 November 2026 by a bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe
  • India’s total fertility rate has fallen from 3 in 2003 to 1.9 today, below the replacement rate of 2.1
  • The court said it was of the “strong opinion” that the laws penalising more than two children had lost their relevance, because the fear of overpopulation behind them had “crumbled”
  • The 2003 ruling in Javed v. State of Haryana upheld a bar on candidates with more than two living children in panchayat elections

What happens now

  • The case — Mangala Bhimrao Ingle v. Additional Commissioner, Amravati Division — goes to a larger bench, because a two-judge bench cannot overrule a three-judge ruling
  • No state law has been struck down. The bar stays in state law until the larger bench rules
  • Ingle, a former sarpanch of Kakoda Gram Panchayat in Maharashtra who lost her post after the birth of her third child, keeps her interim protection as sarpanch until her appeal is decided
  • The court was told seven states have withdrawn the two-child condition, while 15 states do not have such a policy

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