The lone independent Member of Parliament elected from Mandya in Karnataka Sumalatha Ambareesh has said that she will take a decision whether to join NDA or not soon after seeking the opinion of her electorate.
About:
Meaning: An independent candidate is one who contests polls without being affiliated to any political party. Independents often support policies that are different from major political parties.
View of the Law Commission of India (in its 255th report):
Independent candidates should be barred from contesting elections.
A proviso should be added after subclause (d) of section 4 of the RPA stating: “Only the political parties registered with the Election Commission under sub-section (7) of section 29A shall be entitled to put forward candidates to fill a seat in the House of the People.”
Reasons sighted by Law Commission:
They are either not serious or contest elections just to confuse the voters.
The number of independents winners has been decreasing. In 2014, 3,182 independent candidates contested the Lok Sabha elections and only 3 won seats
It is difficult for independent candidates to campaign and influence large numbers of voters in India with little money and influence.
Supreme Court, in Dhartipakar Madan Lal Agarwal v. Rajiv Gandhi, recommended that Parliament devise ways “to meet the onslaught” of such non-serious independent candidates.
Proliferation of candidates puts “unnecessary and avoidable stress” in election management and increases security and election administration expenditure.
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