Supreme Court takes up PIL to bar 2-seat contests
The petitioner said one Person One Vote and One Candidate One Constituency is the dictum of democracy.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine an important issue as to whether a candidate can be barred from contesting in two Assembly/parliamentary constituencies during elections.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by BJP spokes person and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya seeking a ban to this effect. The Attorney General K.K. Venugopal that he would assist the court in deciding this important question of law and file a counter affidavit. The Bench agreed and granted time for filing reply.
The petitioner said one Person One Vote and One Candidate One Constituency is the dictum of democracy. However, as per the law, as it stands today, a person can contest the election for the same office from two constituencies simultaneously. He said when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he/she has to vacate one of the seats if he/she wins both.