The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for after two weeks a plea seeking a ban on a candidate contesting an election from more than one constituency. which often leads to a by-election after an aspirant wins both the seats.
The direction was given by a three judge bench comprising of Justices SA Bobde, M Shantanagoudar and S Abdul Nazeer on a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. The Representation of People’s Act allows a candidate to contest the Lok Sabha or assembly election from two constituencies simultaneously. The government had taken the stand that upto two constituencies can be allowed as it allows greater choice for the voters. But lawyer Upadhyay contended in his petition that this was a waste of public money as in the event of the candidate wining both seats, another election is warranted.
Last year, the Election Commission had supported Upadhyay’s views and in an affidavit stated that “ the law should be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time.
–India Legal Bureau