GAURI SHANKER SHASTRI Vs. MAYADHARDAS S/O RAMESHWARDAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is by Gourishankar Sastri, a returned candidate to the general seat from the Charghoda double member Legislative Assembly constituency in tho raigarh district, whose election has been set aside by an order of the Election tribunal Raigarh, passed on 8-1-1958 in Election Petition No. 194 of 1957.

(2.) SEVEN persons contested the election for the two seats. The second respondent raja Lalit Kumar Singh was declared elected to the reserved seat. His election is no longer in dispute and no argument at the hearing was advanced against him. The appellant Gourishankar Shastri was elected to the general seat. The results of the election were declared on 9-3-1957 and the Gazette notification was issued on 1-4-1957. Though as many as 62 issues were framed in the case, the decision of the Tribunal rests upon issues nos l (a) and (b ). The contention of Mayadhardas, the election petitioner, was that the nomination paper of Gourishankar Shastri was wrongly accepted inasmuch as he held a contract with the State Government and was disqualified under Section 7 (d) o the representation of the People Act. The Tribunal accepted this contention applying a decision of their Lordships of the Supreme Court reported in Chatturbhuj Vithaldas jasani v. Moreshwar Parashram, 1954 SCR 817: (AIR 1954 SC 236 ). This formed the only subject of contention between the parties, all other issues decided against the election petitioner having been abandoned by him before us.

(3.) THE returned candidate is admittedly the proprietor of Manay Printing Press, raigarh. On 14-4-1955 he entered into an agreement (Exh. l-R-5) by which he undertook to print and supply Hindi Electoral Rolls of the Madhya Pradesh legislative Assembly in the Raigarh district. He deposited a sum of Rs. 500/- as security and agreed to complete the work according to the conditions of the contract "within 45 days of the day on which the Manuscript Electoral Rolls were delivered to him. "