Electoral reforms: Election Commission proposes to allow candidate to contest from one seat only

New Delhi, October 8

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The Election Commission has sent a communication to the Ministry of Law & Justice proposing that one candidate should be allowed to contest from one constituency only in a particular election.

Sources in the poll panel said though this was not among the proposals sent to the Ministry on electoral reforms, the fresh move gained momentum after Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner.

Sources said the proposal was sent to the Law Ministry and the government is in discussion with the Commission regarding the proposed electoral reforms. A meeting between senior officials of the government and the Commission is likely to take place soon on the issue, they added.

According to the existing provisions, a candidate is permitted to contest from two different constituencies in a general election or a group of bye-elections or biennial elections. If a person is elected from more than one seat, then the person can hold on to one of the seats.

The Commission is of the view that when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he has to vacate one of the two seats if he wins from both. This, apart from the consequent unavoidable financial burden on the public exchequer and the manpower and other resources for holding bye-election against the resultant vacancy, would be an injustice to the voters of the constituency which the candidate is quitting from, it said.

In 1996, the Representation of the People Act was amended to restrict a person from contesting polls from more than two seats. Before the amendment, there was no bar on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest.

As per the proposal, the Commission has recommended that the law must be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time for conduct and better management of elections.

In case the provision needs to be retained, then there is a need for an express provision in law requiring person who contests and wins election from two seats, resulting in bye-elections from one of the two constituencies, to deposit in the government account an appropriate amount of money being expenditure for holding the bye-election, the EC has proposed.