SC refuses urgent hearing on plea to bar candidates from contesting polls from two seats

The Supreme Court Thursday refused to hear a petition seeking a ban on candidates contesting elections from more than one constituencies on an urgent basis but will take it up after two weeks.

The plea, filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, had challenged Section 33 (7) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which allows candidates to contest from two seats. 

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier supported the ban on candidates contesting on more than one seat by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court. 

In the affidavit, the poll panel had suggested that laws should be amended to ensure that a person cannot contest from more than one seat since it results in the winning candidate forfeiting one seat thereby necessitating a bypoll.

In his PIL, Upadhyay says that the practice of one candidate contesting multiple seats is also a drain on the public exchequer and government machinery since it necessitates a bypoll.