Ban people from contesting from more than one seat or impose fine to deter practice: EC to govt
New Delhi(PTI): Reviving a nearly two-decade-old proposal, the Election Commission has made a fresh push for amending law to bar people from contesting from more than one seat and has said that if it cannot be done, then a hefty fine should be imposed on those vacating one of the constituencies and forcing a bypoll.
In a recent interaction with the Legislative Secretary in the Law Ministry, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar made this push for the reform first proposed in 2004.
The Legislative Department is the nodal agency in the government to deal with issues related to the EC.
As electoral law stands today, a candidate is permitted to contest an election from two different constituencies in a general election or a group of bye-elections or biennial elections. If a person is elected from more than one seat, then the person can only hold on to one of the seats that he or she won.
In 1996, the Representation of the People Act was amended to restrict a person from contesting polls from, more than two seats. Before the amendment, there was no bar on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest.
The poll panel proposed amendment to certain sections in the RP Act in 2004 to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time.
"However, in case the existing provisions are to be retained, a candidate contesting from two seats should bear the cost of the bye-election to the seat that the contestant decides to vacate in the event of him or her winning both seats," a functionary said citing the proposal.
The amount of fine then was proposed at Rs 5 lakh for state assembly and legislative council election and Rs 10 lakh for Lok Sabha election. The poll panel believes the amount should be appropriately revised.
The Commission believes that when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he has to vacate one of the two seats should he win both. This, apart from the consequent unavoidable financial burden on the public exchequer and the manpower and other resources for holding by-election against the resultant vacancy, would be an injustice to the voters of the constituency which the candidate is quitting from.
The Law Commission, which advices government on complex legal issues, had supported the proposal of restricting candidates from more than one seat. However, it had not endorsed the Commission's alternative proposal to require winning candidates to deposit an appropriate amount of money being the expenditure for conducting the elections.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Lets win the world through love, friendship: Dr. Boby Chemmanur
Mangaluru: “Wars, bombings, mass killings etc. are happening all over the world for different reasons. However, none of us will be aware of what we have achieved from this. If everyone wants to live in peace, we all have to extend the hand of friendship. So let's win the world with friendship and love,” said businessman, social worker, donor Dr. Boby Chemmanur speaking after receiving honor from the Team B-Human in a program held at Kianza Garden near Someshwara Uchila on Saturday.
Boby revealed about not visiting Mangaluru despite invitations owing to the city's bad impression he had. “However, after watching Team-B Human's social service video, my perspective about Mangaloreans changed.” In addition he also promised to help the people of this region, including my fans through a charitable trust.
Expressing gratitude, he said, “Once upon a time I used to be a man who would flaunt my wealth. After my mind transformation, I learned to love and befriend the world. I myself paid one crore rupees for the release of Abdul Rahim, a young man from Kerala who was stuck in Saudi Arabia. My Mother, who would not give money to non-christians, gave Rs. 1 Lakh and encouraged the funding. Many people have helped me to achieve my goal. I am grateful to all of them.”
Inaugurating the program, Manjeshwar MLA A.K.M. Ashraf called Kerala a model for humanity in the country. “Even though Kerala has been portrayed in a distorted way by some individuals, the real story of Kerala is known as Boche created by Dr. Boby Chemmannur. It is commendable that Team B Human has honored such social workers.” Legislative Assembly Speaker UT Khader who joined the program virtually extended his best wishes.
The program, led by Asif Deals, Founder President of Team B-Human, also felicitated Sabita Shetty, Founder Managing Trustee of Tapasya Foundation, and Hanif Puttur, General Secretary of CRDF, Puttur.
Zakaria Jokatte- Managing Director of Al Muzain Group, Sharif Bolara- Managing Director of Whitestone, Mansoor Ahmad Azad- Chairman of Hidaya Foundation, Muhammad Kunhi-Managing Director of Shanti Prakashan, Abdul Latif Gurpur- Managing Director ANI Trading Company, Muzafar Ahmed-Trustee of Team-B Human, Abdullah Monu- Administrative Director Eurogroup Qatar , KA Bawa of Deals Group, Khayyum Manya- Trustee of Abhayam Dialysis Center Kasaragod, DK District Wakf Advisory Committee Vice Chairman-AK Jamal, Sameer Kasaragod, Naveen Hegde were present during the occasion.
Siraj, President of the Mangalore unit of Team B Human, extended a warm welcome, while motivational coach Rafeeq Master and Saif Sultan, founder of Hope Foundation, moderated the program.
