VISHNU KANT SHARMA Vs. CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Election Petition has been filed under Section 81 of Representation of the People Act, 1951, seeking the following relief :

(2.) The necessary facts for the disposal of the present election petition in short are that on 12-5-2019, elections were held for the Indian Parliament and the respondent no. 4 was one of the candidates from Gwalior, whereas the election petitioner has also claimed that he too had contested the election. It is the case of the election petitioner that Section 126 of Representation of the People Act, 1951 (in short Act, 1951) prohibits public meetings during period of forty eight hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll and accordingly, during the period of forty eight hours, there shall be no public meetings and election campaigns, which will include any kind of advertisement or election campaign on TV, Cable TV, Electronic or any Election Matter. However, on 12-5-2019, various political parties put their advertisement in various leading news papers in which they had made appeals in favor of the party as well as the candidates, whereas the same was prohibited after 6 P.M. of 10-5-2019. Accordingly, the election petitioner wrote to the Election Commission repeatedly pointing out the open violation of Section 126 of The Representation of People Act, 1951 and a request was made to take strict action against everyone who had deliberately violated the Act, 1951. It was also pleaded that although, the Election Commission of India is vested with the power of Superintendence, Direction and Control over the entire election process but no action was taken and since, the provisions of Section 126 of the Act, 1951 were violated by various political parties, therefore, the present election petition has been filed seeking the above mentioned relief(s).

(3.) I.A. No. 4818/2019 has been filed by respondent no. 4 under Order 7 Rule 11 C.P.C for dismissal of the election petition as barred by law.