Bar leaders from contesting two seats: Election Commission to govt

New Delhi, June 17

The Election Commission has revived its two-decade-old suggestion to the government to amend election laws to either entirely bar candidates from contesting on more than one seat (both in cases of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies) or if it is not possible, to dissuade such trend impose hefty fine on those vacating one of the constituencies leading to a bypoll. Sources said in a recent interaction with the Legislative Secretary in the Law Ministry, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar made this push for the reform first proposed in 2004.

In 1996, the Representation of the People Act was amended to restrict a person from contesting polls from, more than two seats. Before it, there was no bar on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest. The EC had proposed amendment to certain sections in the RP Act in 2004 to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time.

An official quoting the 2004 proposal said, “However, in case the existing provisions are to be retained, a candidate contesting from two seats should bear the cost of the byelection to the seat that the contestant decides to vacate in the event of him or her winning both seats.”