MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI) – The State Duma Committee on Constitutional Law has prepared a government-proposed bill for the second reading that allows individuals to contest election results, Kommersant newspaper writes on Friday.

The Constitutional Court has found that only parliamentary, mayoral, gubernatorial and presidential candidates can file lawsuits to contest election results, and concluded that this provision runs contrary to the constitution.

According to the proposed amendments to the Civil Procedural Code, the courts will have the right to dismiss an individual’s complaint against election results at any given ballot station only if that station’s election commission proves reliably that the said individual did not cast his or her ballot there.

The candidates and parties will retain their right to contest the results of federal elections, but the deadline for filing these lawsuits has been reduced in the government’s proposal from 12 to three months after the announcement of election results.