Twins spell trouble for candidates

With an aim to make people aware about the burgeoning population, Bihar, much like in Haryana, framed a new law that any candidate who has more than two children would be debarred from contesting the civic polls. The cut off date was earmarked as April 4, 2008.

So far so good. But the State Election Commission (SEC) here had not anticipated a unique problem cropping up. What if someone, having one child, is blessed with twins or triplets after the cut-off dates?

Oblivious to this predicament, the Bihar Municipal Act 2007, too, was silent on the issue. The matter would not have been debated had a prospective candidate Rajiv Kumar not sought clarification from the SEC. He asked the SEC to clarify whether he, who had a child in 2007 but was again blessed with twins in May 2008, was eligible to contest the civic elections.

Rajiv’s apprehension was that his rivals, taking advantage of the amended law, could lodge a complaint with SEC citing “technical flaw”, and spoil his plans to contest the poll. He wanted an answer directly from the “horse’s mouth”, and, therefore, approached the SEC to clear the air.

The Bihar poll panel mandarins studied different sections and sub-sections of the Act but could not find a suitable answer. After a lot of brain-storming, the State Election Commission eventually took a stand on the “crucial issue”. It decided that those, with just one child, but blessed with twins after the cut-off dates would not be disqualified from contesting elections.