New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and senior advocate Ashwini Kumar filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court in 2018.
It said, “When a candidate contests in two constituencies, if he wins in both, he must resign as a member of one of the constituencies. A re-election will have to be held for that constituency. This wastes people’s tax money and officials’ time. Therefore, Article 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, which allows contesting in two constituencies, should be declared invalid.”
A bench consisting of Chief Justice Chandrachud, Justices Narasimha and Pardiwala heard the petition and gave its verdict yesterday. It says:
A candidate contests in two constituencies due to various reasons. This is a Parliamentary matter. In India, a democratic country, such matters should be decided only in Parliament.
Before 1996, a candidate could contest in any number of constituencies. A law amendment was brought in 1996 to prevent this. According to this, a candidate can contest in only two constituencies. Similarly, even now Parliament has to decide. A court cannot strike down a specific statute. We therefore dismiss the petition. This is what the judges said in the verdict.
