Amolak Chand v. Raghuveer Singh

Ramaswami, J. This appeal is brought unde; s. 116-A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, hereinafter referred to as the AMOLAK CHAND v. RAGHUVEER (Ramaswami, I.) 247 A ·Act', from the judgment of ·the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dated August 25, 1967 in Election Petition No. 2 of 1967 where­ by the High Court held that ~he election of the appellant from Barwaha Vidhan Sabha Constituency held on February 20, 1967 was void. The appellant was a candidate at the election of the Legisla· live Assembly of the State of Madhya Pradesh from Barwaha Constituency held on February 20, 1967. The respondent was a candidate for election from the same Constituency. Besides the appellant and the responden.t, there were two other candidates, namely,· Nathu son of Rupa and Sita Ram son of Sadhu Ram. There were two nomination papers filed for Nathu son of Rupa, one nomination paper (R-3) was filed on January 19, 1967 at 2.12 p.m. and the second nomination paper (R-1) was filed on January 20, 1967 at 12.47 p.m. The nomination paper of Sita Ram son of Sadhu Ram (R·l) was also filed on January 20, 1967 at 2.32 p.m. In all the three nomination papers, the name of the candidate was proposed by one Sharawan son of Gheesa, an elector from that Constituency. On January 21, 1967, the Returning Officer rejected the nomination papers of the two can­ didates, Nathu son of R,upa and Sita Ram son of Sadhu Ram on the ground that the same elector could not propose two different candidates for the same Consituency. At the polling which took E place on February 20, 1967 the appellant was declared elected to the Assembly from the aforesaid Constituency on February 22, 1967 by the Returning Officer. On March 29, 1967, the res­ pondent filed an Election Petition under s. 80 of the Act in the High Court against 1he appellant. The respondent sought a decla· ration that the election of the appellant was void under s. lOO(c) of the Act on the ground that the nomination papers of Nathu son of Rupa and Sita Ram son of Sadhu Ram were improperly reject­ ed. By its judgment dated August 25, 1967, the High Court accepted the contention of the respondent and declared the elec· lion of the appellant from Barwaha Constituency to be void. On behalf of the appellant Mr. Gupte put forward the argu­ ment that under the scheme and policy of the Act an elector can propose only one candidate for a single seat Constituency and not more than one candidate and if more than one nomination is made for a single seat Constituency, all the i:iominations should be taken to be null and void. We are unable to accept this argument as correct. Section 33(2) of the Act, as it was originally enacted in 1951, contained an express ban against the same elector propos­ ing more than one candidate for a ·single seat Constituency-Sec­ tion 33(2) states: L6Sup.C.l./68-3 "Any person whose name is registered in the electo­ ral roll of the constituency and who is not subject to any disqualification mentioned in section 16 of the Repre­ sentation of the People Act, 1950 may subscribe as proposer or seconder as many nomination papers as there are vacancies lo be filled but no more." Section 36(7)(b) reads as follows: "(7) For the purposes of this section (b) where a person has subscribed, whether as r ·. ooser or seconder,· a larger number of non1ina- 110;1 papers than there are vacancies to be filled, those of the papers so subscribed which have been first receiv. cd, up to the number of vacancies to be filled, shall be deemed to be valid." But by the Amending Act 27 of 1956, ss. 33 and 36 have been re :ast and do not contain any ban as that contemplated by s. 33 (2) of the unamended Act. Section 33(1) & (2) <ifter the amendment reads thus : "33. Presentation of nomination paper and require­ ments for a valid nomination.-(1) On or before the date appointed under clause (a) of section 30 each candidate shall, either in person or by his proposer between the hours of eleven o'clock in the forenoon and three o'clock in the afternoon deliver to the returning officer at the place specified in this behalf in the notice issued under section 31 a nomination paper completed in the prescribed form and signed by the candidate and by an elector of the constituency as proposer. Provided that no nomination paper shall be deliver­ ed to the returning officer on a day which is a public holiday. (2) In a constituency where any seat is reserved. a candidate shall not be deemed to be qualified to be chosen to fill that seat unless his nomination paper con­ tains a declaration by him specifying the particular caste or tribe of which he is a member and the area in rela­ tion to which that caste or tribe is a Scheduled Caste or, as the case may. be, a Scheduled Tribe of the State." Jt is true thats. 33(6) as it stands at present enables a proposer to file more than one nomination paper in respect of the same candidate, but this sub-section has no bearing on the question presented for determination in the present appeal. It is manifest 8 AMOLAK CHAND v. RAGHUVEER (Ramaswami, J.) 249 that there is no express ban or prohibition under s. 33 or s. 36 of the present Act against an elector proposing more than one candidate for a single seat Constituency. Mr. Gupte. has not been able to point out anything in the context or language of other sections of the Act for leading to the necessary implication that an elector cannot propose more than one candidate for a single seat Constituency. On the other hand, the amendment to s. 33 of the Act by the Amending Act 27 of 1956 indicates that it was the intention of Parliament that there should be. no ban on the number of nomination papers or the number of candidates to be proposed by an elector for a single seat Constituency. On behalf of the appellant reference was made to page 13 3 of Schofield's 'Parliamentary Elections', Second Edition in which it is said that "no person is permitted to sign more than one nomi· nation paper at the same election and if he does then his signa­ ture is operative only in the case of the paper which is first deJi,·ered". But this statement is based on r. 8(2) of the Par­ liamentary Elections Rules of the British Parliament. There is no such statutory provision made under the Act for parliamentary elections in India and the analogy ·is not applicable. We are accordingly of the opinion that Counsel for the appellant has been unable to make good his submission on this aspect of the case. It was contended, in the next place, that Nathu and Sita Ram had mentioned in the nomination papers that they were Balais belonging to the Scheduled Caste and this was contrary to the direc.tion that the column indicating caste or tribe should be struck off except in the case of reserved seat. It was therefore argued . that the nomination papers of Nathu and Sita Ram were rightly rejected by the returning officer. In our opinion, there is no substance in this argument. The printed form 2-A is meant both for General and R~erved Constitu.encies but while it i; obligatory for candidates in the reserved constituency to make a deelaration in the proper column that he is a member of a par­ ticular caste or tribe, there is no such rule . with regard to a General Constituency. Section 3 3 ( 2) of the Act imposes an obligation on the candidate in the reserved constituency to make a declaration in the proper column, but there is no such direction in the statute with regard to the General Constituency. In our opinion, the mention of the caste of the candidate in the nomination form was a clear superfluity because it was not· n~sary for the candidate to fill in the colum~ when he was conte:dng in a General Constituency; but there is nothing either in the section or in the rules forbidding the candidate from men­ tioning his caste. In our opinion, there is no violation of the provisions of s. 33 of the Act or the breach of general directions 250 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1968] 3 S.C.R. contained in Rule 4 and the nomination papers cannot be !:dd to be invalid on this account. For these reasons we hold that the judgment of the MaJhya Pradesh High Court dated August 25, 1967 is correct and '.his appeal must be dismissed with costs. G.C. Appeal dismis.<cd.