B.LAKSHMIDEVI Vs. RIZWAN ARSHAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who claims to be a voter in Shivajinagar Assembly Constitutency, has filed this petition under Sec. 81 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 (for short, 'the Act') seeking for the following reliefs:

(2.) The grounds of challenge has been narrated by the petitioner in paragraph 13 of the Memorandum of Petition and from a reading of the grounds urged by the petitioner in the said paragraph, it is very clear that the allegation of corrupt practice against the respondent revolves wholly on the election manifesto published by the Indian National Congress party in two different languages viz., English and Kannada, wherein assurance was given to the electorates that in the event of Indian National Congress party coming into power, the five guarantees assured by them would be implemented. The said five guarantees are as under:

(3.) According to the petitioner, the aforesaid five guarantees are the corrupt practices amounting to bribery and also undue influence under Sec. 123(2) of the Act. It is alleged that the five guarantees are in the form of gratification to the electorates of the constituency with the object of directly inducing the electorates to vote in favour of Indian National Congress party candidates. The petitioner has also provided the estimated expenses for the proposed five guarantees and has stated that the same would be a burden on the State Exchequer. The five guarantees are the freebies assured in the election manifesto which is attacked by the petitioner on the ground that the same are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and also on the ground that they are contrary to Articles 38 and 39 of the Constitution of India.