New Delhi, October 8
The Election Commission has sent a communication to the Ministry of Law and Justice proposing that a candidate should be allowed to contest from only one constituency in a particular election.
Sources in the poll panel said that though this was not among the proposals sent to the ministry on electoral reforms, the fresh move gained momentum after Rajiv Kumar was appointed Chief Election Commissioner.
The sources said that 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 constituencies in a General Election or a group of byelections 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 if he wins both.
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.
In case the provision needs to be retained, then there is a need for an express provision in law requiring the person who contests and wins election from two seats, resulting in byelections from one of the two constituencies, to deposit in the government account an appropriate amount of money as expenditure for holding the byelection, the EC has proposed.
