BRAJ BHUSHAN Vs. BAJA ANAND BRAHMA SHAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under Section 116-A of the Representation of People Act of 1951 (hereinafter called the Act) against the order of an election tribunal dismissing an election petition filed by the appellants.

(2.) This petition arose out of an election held on the 9th March, 1957, for the U. P. Vidhan Sabha from No. 182 Robertsganj Vidhan Sabha Constituency an the district of Mirzapur. The constituency was a double-member constituency; one seat in the constituency was reserved for a member of the Scheduled Caste and the other seat was a general one. Respondent No. 1, Raja Anand Brahma Shah was a candidate for the general seat, while the respondent No. 2, Sobhnath was a candidate for the reserved seat. Both the respondents were seeking election on Jan Sangh tickets and they were allowed the symbol of 'Deepak' in that election, though the Raja professes to have been an independent candidate. The third respondent, Sri Sumer Prasad was a scheduled caste candidate for the reserve seat. The appellant, Sri Brijbhushan Lal Misra was a candidate for the general seat, while the other appellant Ram Swarup was one for the reserved seat; both of them were candidates set up by the Congress Party.

(3.) The polling took place on the 9th March 1957 and the results were declared on the 14th March, 1957. The respondents Raja Anand Brahma Shah and Sri Sobhnath were declared duly elected. The appellants preferred an election petition and sent it to the Election Commissioner within the time allowed by law. The Election Commissioner appointed Sri G. D. Sahgal, District Judge of Allahabad as an election tribunal and referred the election petition to him for trial. The main prayer contained in the election petition, is that the election of the respondents Nos. 1 and 2 be declared void.