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| HC dismisses Bhim's petition challenging Lal Singh's election as MP | | | Early times report
JAMMU, Apr 28: High court judge, Justice Sunil Hali today dismissed the petition filed by JKNPP leader Bhim Singh, challenging election of Lal Singh as MP from Udhampur constituency.
According to the petition, in pursuance to the notification, 14 candidates had filed their nomination papers, which included respondent No 2 also. The returning officer accepted 14 nominations, including that of Bhim also. The election was questioned by the petitioner on the ground that nomination of respondent No 2, who was sponsored by Indian National Congress (INC), a recognized party, was notified by J&K Pradesh Congress (I) Committee, which did not exist as a registered party.
Secondly, it was contended that the nomination papers of respondent No 3 were not in accordance with the rules, instructions and guidelines of Election Commission of India (ECI) as the Forms A and
B were not filled in all respects as was mandatory under the ECI guidelines and rules. Besides, the oath was not taken in accordance with the mandate of law. The factual matrix laid down by the petitioner in questioning the election of respondent No 2 revealed that authorisation given by the INC general secretary, J&K PCC president Saifuddin Soz to nominate a candidate for J&K was done before notification to hold election of the constituency was issued.Form-B was signed by the person who claimed to be president of J&K PCC which did not exist as a registered party with ECI. What was being contended was that the nomination of respondent No 2 by Soz as J&K PCC president was illegal as no such party was registered with ECI. Therefore, acceptance of nomination papers of Choudhary Lal Singh was improper. Justice Hali observed that the burden of proving such material effect had to be ischarged by the election petitioner by adducing positive, satisfactory and cogent evidence. If the petitioner was unable to adduce such evidence the burden was not discharged and the election must stand. This rule might operate harshly upon the petitioner seeking to set aside the election on the ground of improper acceptance of a nomination paper, but the court was not concerned with the inconvenience resulting from the operation of the law. Difficulty of proof could not obviate the need of strict proof or relax the rigour of required proof. The burden of proof placed on the election petitioner was very strict and so difficult to discharge as nearing almost impossibility. There was no room for any guess work, speculation, surmises or conjectures, ie acting on a mere possibility. It would not suffice merely to say that all or majority of wasted votes might have gone to the next highest candidate. The law required proof. How far that proof should go or what it should contain was not provided by the legislature. The
casting of votes in an election depended upon a variety of factors and it was not possible for any one to predicate how many or which proportion of the votes would go to one or the other candidates.
It was not permissible to accept the ‘Ipse Dixit’ of witness coming from one side or the other to say that all or some of the votes would have gone to one or the other on some supposed or imaginary ground.
Justice Hali observed that the petitioner had miserably failed to prove ingredients of section 100 (1)(d) of Representation of Public Act. The success of a candidate who had won at an election should not be lightly interfered with and any petition seeking such interference must strictly conform to the requirements of the law. One of the essentials of election law was to safeguard the purity
of election process and, therefore, the courts must zealously ensure that people did not get elected by flagrant breaches of that law or by indulging in corrupt practices, as enumerated in the Act.
With these observations, the court dismissed Bhim's election petition, challenging the election of Lal Singh as MP.
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