Dear Editor,
Undergoing the pain of vacating his MLA seat, newly elected MP Hanuman Beniwal has come out with a suggestion that a candidate elected for both Assembly and Lok Sabha should be allowed to remain in both the Houses. He has cited the example of America having provision for this. MLA Beniwal won the Lok Sabha seat from Nagaur as RLD candidate. If that is to happen, then Article 101(2) of the Constitution according to which no person can be a member of both Parliament and Vidhana Soudha has to be repealed and necessary constitutional amendments have to be made to implement the suggestion of Beniwal. In fact it is meaningless to allow a candidate to contest the Lok Sabha election by an MLA and contest Assembly election by an MP. The provision for allowing sitting MLA to contest for MP election and sitting MP to contest MLA election is to the convenience of politicians to enjoy power and perks. This provision has been paving way for too many by-elections leading for avoidable expenditures. Further, a candidate is allowed to contest from two constituencies either for Assembly election or for Lok Sabha election. If the candidate contesting from both the constituencies is defeated in one of the two, the need for by election does not arise. When the candidate wins both the seats, one of the seats has to be invariably vacated causing by election. Law makers take care of their interest first. Opposition to contest from two constituencies at a time does not stir the conscience of the law makers. They cannot be expected to respond positively to the public criticisms against simultaneous contest from two constituencies. People should become wise. In the by election, the same party candidate should not be elected. Party candidate opposed to the party of the candidate who vacated the seat in favour of the other should be elected. If it is done, a candidate contesting from two seats can be discouraged. He must be made to stick on to the seat for which he was earlier elected. This would be successful if only the people wish to vote for a party other than the party for which they earlier voted. This is easier said than done. Because party loyalty does not allow a large number of people from taking a different stand in the by election. The alternative remedy is to declare the candidate won who had polled next highest number of votes in the general election. Contesting from two seats and a sitting MLA contesting in MP election and a sitting MP contesting in MLA election should be discouraged. If the law makers have the political will, they can do it by barring one sitting member contesting for the other. Contest from two constituencies for either Lok Sabha election or Assembly election can be allowed only for the Prime Ministerial or Chief Ministerial candidate as exceptional case. Too many by-elections have placed heavy burden on public exchequer. A candidate donning the role of both MLA and MP is two in one. He cannot concentrate on both the constituencies.
Further, it shrinks the political space to many others. If it is believed that it is possible to a candidate to concentrate both on Assembly Constituency and Lok Sabha Constituency without undermining his efficiency in taking care of the people of his constituencies, then a single election can be held and the candidates winning in such election can be declared as MLA-cum-MP. Then the terms “General Elections” have to be redefined to mean an election for MLA-cum-MP election. In that case there will be only one election once in 5 years as against two elections i.e. Lok Sabha elections and Assembly Elections, now going on in 5 years. This would save crores of rupees. The suggestion by Beniwal is unacceptable. If his suggestion is accepted, then a demand may come up for “Four in One” i.e., MLA-cum-MLC-cum-LS member-cum-RS member.
K.V. Seetharamaiah
