NIKH KAMIN Vs. LIKHA SAAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The opposite party No. 1 herein has filed an Election Petition under Section 80, read with Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (in short, the 'RP Act, 1951'), calling in question the election of the present applicant (who stands impleaded, in the Election Petition, as Respondent No. 1) to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh from 16th Yachuli (ST) Constituency, his case being, in brief, thus: In the election, in question, while the election Petitioner got, m all, 5596 votes, the Respondent No. 1 (i.e., the returned candidate) received as many as 5638 votes. The Respondent No. 1 was accordingly declared elected by a margin of 42 votes. In the election, in question, as many as 376 votes were cast by means of 'postal ballot's and, out of the total votes, so cast, while 197 votes were found to have been cast in favour of Respondent No. 1 (i.e., the returned candidate), the election Petitioner (i.e., opposite party No. 1 in the present application) got 125 votes and the remaining candidate, namely, opposite party No. 2, received 34 votes. However, none of the said 376 persons, who had cast their votes through 'postal ballot', falls in any of the categories of voters, who are eligible to cast their votes through 'postal ballot', and, hence, the votes of all these 376 voters were invalid and ought not to have been counted in the election.

(2.) Thus, all the said 376 votes, cast through "postal ballot", are, according to the election Petitioner, liable to be deducted, and, on doing so, the election Petitioner having received 30 votes more than the present applicant, who is the returned candidate, the election Petitioner becomes entitled to be declared, and be accordingly declared, by this Court, elected from the 16th Yachuli (ST) Legislative Constituency.

(3.) The above election petition has given rise to Election Petition No. 5/2009 and it is in this Election Petition that the present application has been made by the returned candidate, who stands impleaded, as already indicated above, as Respondent No. 1 in the Election Petition.