{"id":33823,"date":"2024-12-17T19:24:53","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=33823"},"modified":"2024-12-17T19:24:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:54:55","slug":"one-candidate-multiple-constituencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/17-12-2024\/one-candidate-multiple-constituencies","title":{"rendered":"One Candidate, Multiple Constituencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Amidst all the political debates, an important issue has escaped attention \u2013 the practice of One Candidate Contesting from Multiple Constituencies (OCMC) for the same office.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Constitution empowers Parliament to regulate the conduct of elections in India.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951<\/strong> governs electoral contests under which;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Until 1996,<\/strong> there was no limit on the number of constituencies a candidate could contest from in a single election.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Parliament amended the Act,<\/strong> allowing candidates to contest from a maximum of two constituencies.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Despite these changes,<strong> the practice persists<\/strong>, particularly in State Legislative Assembly elections.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Around 44 by-elections were held for State Assemblies in November 2024 due to legislators vacating seats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments against OCMC<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Increased Taxpayer Burden:<\/strong> The administrative cost of elections is substantial. By-elections, triggered by seat vacation, add further costs. This burden ultimately falls on taxpayers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Advantage to the Ruling Party: <\/strong>By-elections within six months disproportionately benefit the ruling party. Resources, patronage, and state machinery can be leveraged, creating an uneven playing field for the Opposition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Financial Pressure on Opponents:<\/strong> By-elections impose additional financial burdens on already defeated candidates and their parties, compelling them to spend resources on repeat contests.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Undermining Democratic Principles:<\/strong> Contesting multiple constituencies becomes a hedging mechanism for leaders, focusing on political gains rather than public interest.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Voter Discontent: <\/strong>Winning candidates vacating a seat disrupt voters\u2019 expectations of representation. This causes voter dissatisfaction and erodes trust.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Against fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a):<\/strong> A petition in <strong>Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India, 2023,<\/strong> argued that vacating a seat after winning violates voters&#8217; trust and creates a constitutional anomaly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments in favour of OCMC<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Safety Net for Candidates: <\/strong>Contesting from multiple constituencies serves as a safeguard in tightly contested elections, ensuring candidates have a backup option.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Precedent: <\/strong>Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh also allow candidates to contest multiple constituencies, albeit with conditions to relinquish all but one seat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recommendations for Reform by Election Commission of India (ECI)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Amend Section 33(7) of RPA, 1951<\/strong> to ban candidates from contesting multiple constituencies.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The<strong> 255th Law Commission Report (2015)<\/strong> also proposed the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Recover Costs of By-elections:<\/strong> Impose the full cost of by-elections on candidates vacating a seat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>By-elections <strong>consume significant financial and administrative resources,<\/strong> which could be redirected toward developmental priorities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While the concept of One Candidate, One Constituency (OCOC) aligns with core democratic principles like <strong>&#8220;one person, one vote,<\/strong>&#8221; its implementation requires political will and support from major parties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/lets-talk-about-one-candidate-multiple-constituencies\/article68989069.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amidst all the political debates, an important issue has escaped attention \u2013 the practice of One Candidate Contesting from Multiple Constituencies (OCMC) for the same office.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33824,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33823\/revisions\/33824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}