India, Nov. 4 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the continued relevance of laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections, observing that the rationale of population control has lost relevance amid changing demographic realities and declining fertility rates.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said India needs to guard against a potentially irreversible decline in fertility and frame policies in tune with emerging demographic trends.

"The rolling effect of a decelerating population growth is very hard to reverse," the bench observed, cautioning that India could soon face the challenge of an ageing population with a disproportionately large share of people beyond worki...