ZIYAUDDIN BURHANUDDIN BUKHARI Vs. BRIJMOHAN RAMDASS MEHRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') is directed against the judgment and order of the High Court of Bombay setting aside the election of the appellant to the Maharashtra State Assembly from Kumbharwada constituency held on 9-8-1972 on a voter's election petition.

(2.) The voter alleged that the appellant, in the course of his election, had committed corrupt practices defined in Sec. 123, sub-ss. (2) and (3) and (3A) of the Act. The gist of the charges against the appellant Ziyauddin Burhanuddin Bukhari (hereinafter referred to as 'Bukhari'), a Muslim League candidate, was: that, he had made speeches in the course of his election campaign calculated to induce a belief in the voters that they will be objects of divine displeasure or spiritual censure if they voted for Shaukat Currimbhoy Chagla (hereinafter referred to as 'Chagla'), a Congress party candidate, who was impleaded as the 2nd respondent that, in the above mentioned speeches, the appellant had called upon the electors to vote for him and not for Chagla on the ground that he alone stood for all that was Muslim whereas. Chagla represented all that was against Muslim religion and belief so that Chagla could not be a true Muslim at all, the object of such appeals being to further the chances of election of Bukhari and to prejudicially affect the prospects of the election of Chagla; that, the appellant, Bukhari, had attempted to promote feelings of enmity and hatred between Muslims and Hindus on grounds of religion and community. Particulars of the speeches delivered at sixteen meetings and what was said there by Bukhari were furnished with the election petition.

(3.) The alleged corrupt practices are defined in the following provisions of Section 123: