KISHORE MOHANTY Vs. BIRENDRA CHANDRA PANDEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this election petition, the petitioner calls in question the election of the returned candidate -respondent No. 1 from 130 -Jharsuguda Assembly Constituency.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that the Election Commission of India in December, 1994 announced the programme for holding general election (11th) to constitute a new Legislative Assembly for the State of Orissa. Accordingly he (petitioner) and respondents 1 to 6 filed their respective nominations for contesting the election from the 130 -Jharsuguda Assembly Constituency. Their nominations were found valid and accordingly all their names were included in the list of validly nominated candidates. The petitioner was the nominee of Janata Dal. His party symbol was 'Wheel' (Chakra). Respondent No. 1 was the nominee of Indian National Congress (Congress I) having party symbol 'Hand'. Respondent No. 2 was the nominee of Bharatiya Janata Party whose symbol was 'Lotus'. Respondent No. 3 was an independent candidate whose election symbol was 'axe'. Respondent No. 4 was a candidate of Koshal Party whose election symbol was 'bow and arrow'. Respondent No. 5 was a candidate of Bahujan Samaj Party having the symbol 'elephant'. Respondent No. 6, a candidate of CPI, had the party election symbol 'Ears of Corn and Sickle'. The petitioner and respondents 1 to 6 contested the election which was held on 7.3.1 995. The counting of votes was held on 11.3.1995 at 8 a.m. in the Engineering School Premises, Jharsuguda. The final result sheet in Form No. 20 was declared on 12.3.1995. As per the declaration, the total number of ballots polled for the concerned constituency including postal ballots were 1,12,385 out of which 3608 (including postal ballots) were rejected and 1,08,777 ballots were found to be valid. According to the declaration valid votes obtained by each of the candidates were as follows : (1) Petitioner 46,330(2) Respondent No. 1 47,171(3) Respondent No. 2 3,915(4) Respondent No. 3 5,144(5) Respondent No. 4 440(6) Respondent No. 5 585(7) Respondent No. 6 5,193 Respondent No. 1, as per the declaration, having got 841 more valid votes than the petitioner was declared elected.

(3.) RESPONDENT No.l has filed his written statement denying the allegations made in the election petition. Respondent No. 7 the Returning Officer of Jharsuguda Assembly Constituency has also filed his written statement. Respondents 2 to 6 did not appear despite valid service of notice on them. They were accordingly set ex parte.