SC notice to govt on PIL to bar independents from contesting

pollsNew Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court today soughtthe responses of the Centre and the Election Commission (EC)on a plea seeking direction...

pollsNew Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court today soughtthe responses of the Centre and the Election Commission (EC)on a plea seeking directions to take steps to discourageindependent candidates from contesting Parliament and stateassembly elections.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and JusticesA M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notices to theMinistry of Law and Justice and ECI while seeking their replyin four weeks.

The PIL has sought a direction to the Centre and the ECto take appropriate steps to discourage independent candidatesfrom contesting Parliament and state assembly elections,saying they were often connected with the issue of "fragmentedvoting" and causing instability in the electoral system.

The petition, filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson andadvocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, also sought to declare asinvalid and ultra-virus section 33(7) of the Representation ofthe People (RP) Act which allows a person to contest a generalelection or a group of bye-elections or biennial electionsfrom two constituencies.

"When a candidate contests from two seats, it isimperative that he has to vacate one of the two seats if hewins both. This, apart from the consequent unavoidablefinancial burden on the public exchequer, government manpowerand other resources for holding bye-election against theresultant vacancy, is also an injustice to the voters of theconstituency which the candidate is quitting from," it said.

It also said that in July 2004, the Chief ElectionCommissioner had urged the then Prime Minister to amendSection 33(7) of the RP Act to provide that a person cannotcontest from more than one constituency for the same officesimultaneously.

"The ECI alternatively suggested that if existingprovisions are retained, then the candidate contesting fromtwo seats should bear the cost of the bye-election to theseat that the contestant decides to vacate in the event ofhis/her winning both seats," it said, adding that the Centrehas not taken appropriate steps in this regard till date. PTIPKS ABA MNL RKSARC.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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