SC to hear plea barring candidates from contesting elections on two seats in August

Supreme Court on Monday said that it will conduct the final hearing on the PIL filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay seeking ban on candidates contesting from more than one Assembly or Lok Sabha constituencies in August. 

The plea was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The petition seeks to impose Section 33 (7) of the Representation of People Act. In his plea, Upadhyay has urged the top court to declare such a contest as illegal.  

It is to be noted that the Election Commission had already supported the affidavit filed in the SC seeking a ban on a contestant fighting on more than one seat. The Commission had said in its affidavit that contesting on two seats and then leaving one seat after winning is like cheating the voters. It had also said that in such a scenario, there is an added financial burden to hold the election too. The Commission had also suggested that in such circumstances, the person giving up the winning seats should pay for the re-election. 

Upadhyay has said in his plea that the provision should be done away with as it leads to wastage of public money in getting an election conducted once again for the constituency which is left vacant by the winning candidate. 

The government had defended the provision saying that a candidate should be allowed to contest from two seats since this legal provision provides for wider choice to the polity as well as candidates. Under the existing legal framework, a candidate is allowed to contest from up to a maximum of two constituencies in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.