Supreme Court refuses to ban contesting on more than one seat, dismisses petition

Contesting Elections on More than One Seat: In a general election, a candidate can contest from more than one constituency. On a petition filed on this issue, the Supreme Court said that allowing a candidate to contest more than one seat is an issue of legislative policy. So it will be the decision of the Parliament whether this option should be given to the people in this political democracy or not. The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to strike down the rule under which candidates can contest elections from more than one constituency. Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, it is a policy matter and an issue of political democracy. Justice P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala insisted it is for the Parliament to decide. The petition, filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, sought to restrain a candidate from contesting from more than one constituency in the general election.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court bench told senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, representing the petitioner, that even a leader of a national party wants to show his all-India image and wants to show that he is from West, East, North and South India. I can stand

The bench said there was nothing wrong with that and there were historical figures who had that kind of popularity. The bench said that if Parliament wants to amend, it can, and the court will not do so.

The counsel argued that, if the candidates are standing from two constituencies then they should be asked to submit more. The bench said that candidates may contest from different seats for various reasons and whether it will further democracy is for the Parliament to decide.

The Supreme Court concluded that allowing a candidate to contest from more than one seat is a matter of legislative policy.