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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

08/10/22 07:23 AM IST

One Candidate, One Consituentcy

In News 
  • Recently, the Chief Election Commissioner asked the Ministry of Law & Justice to limit the seats from which a candidate can contest to just one.
Background 
  • As per Section 33(7) of the RPA (Representation of the People Act), 1951, one candidate can contest from a maximum of two constituencies.
  • More constituencies were allowed until 1996 when the RPA was amended to set the cap at two constituencies.
  • Since 1951, many politicians have used this factor to contest from more than one seat – sometimes to divide the opponent’s vote, sometimes to profess their party’s power across the country, sometimes to cause a ripple effect in the region surrounding the constituencies in favour of the candidate’s party and all parties have exploited Section 33(7).
  • While 33(7) allows candidates to contest from two seats, Section 70 bars candidates from representing two constituencies in the Lok Sabha/state. Assembly.
Recommendations by ECI 
  • The Election Commission recommended amending Section 33(7) so as to allow one candidate to contest from only one seat.
  • It did so in 2004, 2010, 2016 and in 2018.
  • A system should be devised wherein if a candidate contested from two constituencies and won both, then he or she would bear the financial burden of conducting the subsequent by-election in one of the constituencies.
  • The amount would be Rs 5 lakh for a Vidhan Sabha election and Rs 10 lakh for a Lok Sabha election.
Source- Tribune 

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