Let one candidate contest from one seat only, EC proposes to Law Ministry

Although it is one of those electoral reforms which had also been proposed in the past, but, the sources said that the proposal gained momentum after Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner.

Sources said that the proposal was sent to the Ministry, and the government is in discussion with the Commission regarding the proposed electoral reforms. Meeting in this regard is likely soon, said sources.

As per the existing electoral law, a candidate is permitted to contest election 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 only hold on to one of the seats that he or she won.

As per the Commission, when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he has to vacate one of the two seats if he wins 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.

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 Proposed Electoral Reforms, 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 an expenditure for holding the bye-election.

The recommendations made by the Election Commission in 2004 as to the amount to be deposited in the government account for being used as the expenditure for holding the bye elections has to be increased from Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to something more appropriate for serving as deterrence to the candidates.