Landmark Judgements on Election Law
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
. LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS ON ELECTION LAW ( A Compilation of important and far-reaching Judgements pronounced by Supreme Court of India, High Courts and Election Commission of India ) VOLUME - I ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA NEW DELHI Dr. M. S. Gill Chief Election Commissioner of India FOREWORD India has recently celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its independence, and is on the threshold of a new millenium. During the last 50 years of independence, which we, the people of India, adopted as the way of governance of our country, has moved from strength to strength. India is now regarded, by the international community, as one of the most stable democracies in the world. The Election Commission of India, an independent constitutional authority, has played a fundamental and critical role in the evolution of Indian democracy. In the discharge of its constitutional responsibility of conducting free, fair and peaceful elections in he country, the hands of the Election Commission have been strengthened by the Supreme Court of India, by its several landmark judgements, pronouncing upon the provisions of the constitution of India, and the laws relating to the elections. These judgements of the Supreme Court, the guiding stars, not only for the Courts, but also for the Election Commission, its electoral machinery, Governments at the Center and in the states, political parties and the candidates contesting elections. These judgements are reported in various law journals and reports, scattered over a period of 50 years. A growing need was being felt for a collection of these judgements, for facility of reference and guidance. Often, requests for copies of such judgements have also been received by the Commission from various international organisations and for a, interested in the study of elections and election laws of India. The Commission has made a discreet selection of some of these landmark judgements, and also a few judgements of High Courts, having a bearing on various aspects o election system and procedures in India, and put them together in this book. To this, we have added one of the more recent pronouncements of the Commission in connection with a dispute between splinters groups of a major national party. This decision of the Commission is of a historic nature, and has defined the procedures and principles in settling such disputes. I hope this book will meet the requirements of, and will be found useful by, every one, who has a role to play in the election field, including the Courts and Advocates. ( Dr. M. S. Gill ) June, 1999. New Delhi. VOLUME I Sl.No. CONTENTS Page No. 1. N. P. Ponnuswami Vs. The Returning Officer, 1 Namakkal Constituency (Supreme Court of India) 2. Election Commission of India Vs. Saka Venkata Rao 20 (Supreme Court of India) 3. Brundaban Nayak Vs. Election Commission of India 33 & Another (Supreme Court of India) 4. Meghraj Kothari Vs. Delimitation Commission & Others 45 (Supreme Court of India) 5. Pashupati Nath Singh Vs. Harihar Prasad Singh 62 (Supreme Court of India) 6. Sadiq Ali & Another Vs. Election Commission of India 70 & Others (Supreme Court of India) 7. Smt. Indira Nehru Gandhi Vs. Shri Raj Narayan 96 (Supreme Court of India) 8. All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference Vs. 436 Captain W.A. Sangma (Supreme Court of India) 9. Narendra Madivalapa Kheni Vs. Manikarao Patil 465 & Others (Supreme Court of India) 10. Mohinder Singh Gill & Another Vs. Chief Election 484 Commissioner & Others (Supreme Court of India) VOLUME II Sl.No. CONTENTS Page No. 11. Jyoti Basu & Others Vs. Debi Ghosal & Others 561 (Supreme Court of India) 12. Km. Shradha Devi Vs. Krishna Chandra Pant & Others 572 (Supreme Court of India) 13. Pashupati Nath Sukul Vs. Nem Chandra Jain & Others 592 (Supreme Court of India) 14. A.C. Jose Vs. Sivan Pillai & Others 609 (Supreme Court of India) 15. Election Commission of India Vs. State of Haryana 625 (Supreme Court of India) 16. Samarath Lal Vs. Chief Election Commissioner & Others 640 (Supreme Court of India) 17. (i) Lakshmi Charan Sen Vs. A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman 642 & Others (ii) Election Commission of India Vs. A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman (Supreme Court of India) 18. Krishna Ballabh Prasad Singh Vs. 682 Sub-Divisional Officer, Hilsa-cum-Returning Officer & Others (Supreme Court of India) 19. Indrajit Barua Vs. Election Commission of India 687 & Others (Supreme Court of India) 20. Kanhiya Lal Omar Vs. R.K. Trivedi & Others 700 (Supreme Court of India) 21. Azhar Hussain Vs. Rajiv Gandhi 715 (Supreme Court of India) 22. Dhartipakar Madan Lal Agarwal Vs. Rajiv Gandhi 746 (Supreme Court of India) 23. Election Commission of India Vs. Shivaji & Others 779 (Supreme Court of India) 24. B. Sundra Rami Reddy Vs. Election Commission of India 790 (Supreme Court of India) 25. Shri Kihota Hollohon Vs. Mr. Zachilhu & Others 793 (Supreme Court of India) 26. Rama Kant Pandey Vs. Union of India 894 (Supreme Court of India) 27. Lal Babu Hussain & Others Vs. Electoral Registration Officer 901 (Supreme Court of India) 28. T.N. Seshan Vs. Union of India & Others 920 (Supreme Court of India) 29. Janata Dal (Samajwadi) Vs. Election Commission of India 959 (Supreme Court of India) 30. Common Cause, A Registered Society Vs. Union of India 967 & Others. (Supreme Court of India) 31. Kanhaiya Prasad Sinha Vs. Union of India & Others 987 (Patna High Court) 32. N. Kristappa Vs. Chief Election Commissioner & Others 996 (Andhra Pradesh High Court) 33. P. Ravindra Reddy, P.Indrajit Reddy, P. Bayyapa Reddy Vs. 1010 Election Commission of India & Others (Andhra Pradesh High Court) 34. Om Prakash Srivastava alias Babloo Srivastava Vs 1027 Election Commission of India & Others (Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench) 35. Harbans Singh Jalal Vs. Union of India & Others 1043 (Punjab and Haryana High Court) 36. Kotha Dass Goud Vs. The Returning Officer, 1059 41-Nalgonda P.C. and Election Commission of India (Andhra Pradesh High Court) 37. Arjun Singh Vs. The President, Indian National Congress 1067 (Election Commission of India) SUPREME COURT OF INDIA* (Civil Appellate Jurisdiction) Case No. 351 of 1951$ (Decision Dated 21st January, 1952) N.P. Ponnuswami .. Appellant Vs. The Returning Officer, Namakkal Constituency, Namakkal, Salem District and four Others .. Respondents The Union of India The State of Madhya Bharat .. Interveners SUMMARY OF THE CASE The appellant filed his nomination paper for election to the (then) Madras Legislative Assembly from the Namakkal Assembly Constituency in Salem District. The Returning Officer, at the time of scrutiny of nomination papers on 28.11.1951, rejected his nomination paper on certain grounds. Aggrieved by the order of the Returning Officer rejecting his nomination paper, the appellant moved the Madras High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking a direction to the Returning Officer to include his name in the list of validly nominated candidates. The High Court dismissed the writ petition on the ground that it had no jurisdiction to interfere with the order of the Returning Officer in view of the provisions of Article 329 (b) of the Constitution. The appellant then moved the present appeal before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also dismissed the appeal confirming the view of the High Court. The Supreme Court held that the word ‘election’ in Article 329 (b) connotes the entire electoral process commencing with the issue of the notification calling the election and culminating in the declaration of result, and that the electoral process once started could not be interfered with at any intermediary stage by Courts. Constitution of India (1950), Article 226 and 329 (b) – Jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 – If excluded by Article 329 (b) in regard to order of Returning Officer rejecting nomination paper for election to the State Assembly. The High Court has no jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to entertain petitions regarding improper rejection by the Returning Officer of nomination papers of candidates for election either to the House of Parliament or to the State Assembly. The Jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 has been excluded in regard to matters provided for an Article 329 which covers all ‘electoral matters’. The scheme of Part XV of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 seems to be that any matter which has the effect of vitiating an election should be brought up only at the appropriate stage in an appropriate manner before a special tribunal and should not be brought up at an intermediate stage before any Court. Under the election law, the only significance which the rejection of a nomination paper has consists in the fact that it can be used as a ground to call the election in question. Article 329 (b) was apparently enacted to prescribe the manner in which and the stage at which this ground and other grounds which may be raised under the law to call the election in question, could be urged. It follows by necessary implication from the language of this provision that those grounds cannot be urged in any other manner, at any other stage and before any other Court. Appeal under Article 132 of the Constitution of India from the Judgement and Order dated the 11th December, 1951 of the High Court of Judicature at Madras (Subba Rao and Venkatarama Ayyar, JJ.) in Writ Petition No. 746 of 1951. JUDGMENT Present:– M. Patanjali Sastri, Chief Justice, S. Fazl Ali, Mehrchand Mahajan, B.K. Mukherjea, S.R.Das and N. Chandrasekhara Aiyar, JJ. N. Rajagopala Iyengar, Advocate for Appellant. R. Ganapathi Iyer, Advocate for the First Respondent. M. C. Setelvad, Attorney-General of India (G.N. Joshi, Advocate with him) for the Union of India. K. A. Chitale, Advocate-General, Madhya Bharat (G.N.