K T KOSALRAM Vs. SANTHOSHAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application by the Returning Officer, Tiruchendur Parliamentary constituency, to strike off his name from the array of parties in Election Petition no. 10 of 1967. The applicant figures as the fifth respondent in the election petition. In this application, he states that he is neither a necessary party nor a proper party to the petition, that no relief has been asked for against him, that it cannot be said that the presence of the applicant will in any way enable the Court to adjudicate more effectively and completely the questions raised in the election petition, that he has acted only in the course of his duty as Returning Officer and has not done anything contrary to the statute, that the election petition has not disclosed any cause of action against him and that, therefore, his name may be struck off from the array of parties in the election petition.

(2.) THE election petitioner has stated in his counter that he has impleaded the applicant as a party since he is of opinion that the applicant is a proper party, though not a necessary party.

(3.) THE elected candidate (Dr. M. Santhosham) states in his counter that, since the petitioner in the election petition has made several allegations of improper conduct on the part of the Returning Officer and his staff in the matter of counting of votes and in not exercising adequate vigilance, it is just and necessary to retain him in the array of parties in order to enable the Court to determine the truth of the allegations.