The Supreme Court on Thursday dumped a plea by Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay to bar any candidate contest on two seats simultaneously in an election.
“What is wrong if a candidate contests from one more seat if he is not sure about winning from one? These are part of political democracy. A leader of a national party may also want to say he wants to show his pan-India image. So, he may want to contest from the South and North East. Parliament had reduced it to two from contesting more than two seats. Now if Parliament feel so it can say confine to one,” Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud said while making the decision.
The apex court also said that it was a legislative policy matter and the court would not have a say in it as it is up to Parliament to make changes.
In an earlier document submitted to the top court, the Election Commission (EC) cited its 2004 proposals on electoral changes and stated that the legislation should be changed to ensure that a person cannot run for more than one seat.
