For some candidates, it takes two to tango

In the 2019 Lok Sabha (LS) elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was one of 23 candidates to contest from two LS seats - Wayanad and Amethi.

- ARCHIS MOHAN

Rahul lost in Amethi, ruling out the necessity for a bypoll in that constituency.

However, in 2014, a bypoll was held in Vadodara when Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi won from both Varanasi and Vadodara and resigned from the latter.

Over the years, the Election Commission (EC) of India has supported arguments that candidates should be restricted to contesting from one seat, citing the waste of public money and resources in holding a bypoll if a candidate were to win both seats.

In 1996, Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act was amended to restrict the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest to two. Until then, there was no limitation on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest.

For example, in 1957, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, spelt 'Atal Behari Bajpai' in EC records of the time, contested from three seats in Uttar Pradesh (UP) Mathura, Lucknow, and Balrampur, winning Balrampur on the Jana Sangh ticket. In 1962, he contested from two seats as he did in 1991.

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister (CM) NT Rama Rao would contest from multiple Assembly seats.