SECTION 33 OF RPA

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About:

• The Supreme Court of India has refused to comment over a provision in the election law that allows candidates to contest polls from two constituencies simultaneously.
• The court stated that “It is a policy matter and is related to representation in political democracy. Therefore it is under the power of the Parliament to take a call on this matter”.
• The petitioner has asked the court to invalidate Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act.
  • The Petitioner highlighted that “Like one person, one vote, one candidate, one constituency is the core principle of democracy”, and Section 33 (7) of the Representation of the People Act goes against the principle of democracy as it allows a person to contest a general election or a group of bye-lections or biennial elections from two constituencies.
• The court decided to leave the issue to the discernment of Parliament.
• In 1996, the Representation of the People Act 1951 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 Representation of the People Act, 1951 has provisions for the conduct of election of the Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the Legislature of each State, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership of those Houses, the corrupt practices and other offences at or in connection with such elections and the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections.
• As electoral law stands today, a candidate is permitted to contest an election from two different constituencies.
  • If a person is elected from more than one seat, then the person can only hold on to one of the seats that he/she won.
• Last year the Election Commission of India suggested Government bar people from contesting elections from more than one seat
  • The commission mentioned that when a candidate contests from two seats, it is sure that he has to vacate one of the two seats should he win both.
  • This result in an unavoidable financial burden on the public exchequer and the manpower and other resources for holding a by-election against the resultant vacancy, and it would be an injustice to the voters of the constituency which the candidate is quitting from.
• The Law Commission of India has also supported the proposal of restricting candidates from more than one seat.

Double Membership:

• A person cannot be a member of both Houses of Parliament at the same time. Thus, the Representation of People Act (1951) provides for the following:
  • If a person is elected to both Houses of Parliament, he must intimate within 10 days in which House he desires to serve. In default of such intimation, his seat in the Rajya Sabha becomes vacant.
  • If a sitting member of one House is also elected to the other House, his seat in the first House becomes vacant.
  • If a person is elected to two seats in a House, he should exercise his option for one. Otherwise, both seats become vacant.
  • A person cannot be a member of both the Parliament and the state legislature at the same time. If a person is so elected, his seat in Parliament becomes vacant if he does not resign his seat in the state legislature within 14 days.

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