PRABHU LAL BAHUGUNA Vs. UMESH SHARMA KAU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Instant election petition has been instituted by the election petitioner seeking a prayer to declare the election of the respondent as returned (elected) candidate from 19-Raipur Constituency of Legislative Assembly in the IV Assembly Elections of the State of Uttarakhand to be null and void and consequently to declare the certificate of election granted by the Returning Officer (District Development Officer), Dehradun on 11.03.2017, also null and void.

(2.) Briefly stated, facts of the case are that voting took place on 15.02.2017 in respect of elections for 19-Raipur constituency of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly and the result was declared on 11.03.2017. The election petitioner, who is the candidate for Indian National Congress party, submitted his nomination papers and contested the election for said constituency of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. Respondent also contested the election and was declared returned candidate.

(3.) The election petitioner has filed the election petition, inter alia, on the grounds that the respondent was the candidate of Bhartiya Janta Party at the time of election, which was the ruling party in the Center. It is contended that Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were not installed in the election pursuant to the directions issued by Hon'ble Apex Court in its judgment rendered in the case of Dr. Subramanian Swami Vs Election Commission of India, 2013 10 SCC 500. After the election, several reports were published in regard to the malfunctioning of the EVMs throughout the country. Taking advantage of the situation to introduce the EVM with VVPAT, the respondent committed corrupt practices in collusion and connivance with their associates, whereby the respondent took help of experts under a planned modus operandi, for tampering / hacking / manipulating the EVMs deployed at various polling booths and, as such, hampered with the free, fair, genuine recording of votes through EVMs, which amounts to "Booth Capturing", and is an offence under Section 135A of the Representation of People Act,1951.