JIBONTARA GHATOWAR Vs. SARBANANDA SONOWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Election Petition under Sections 80 and 80A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for short, the 'Act' is presented by Smt. Jibontara Ghatowar, hereinafter, referred to as the 'petitioner' challenging the legality and/or validity of election of Sarbananda Sonowal, the contestant respondent No. 1, hereinafter referred to as the 'respondent' to the 115 Moran Legislative Constituency, for short, the 'Constituency'.

(2.) The petitioner, the respondent, and four others, had participated in the election to the 115 Moran Legislative Assembly Constituency, the polling of which took place on 10-5-2001. The results were declared on 14-5-2001 and the final result sheet reads as under :- Total Votes Polled No. of Rejected Votes Jibontara Ghatowar Sarbananda Sonowal 67,580 2,346 26,927 27,777 Hareshwar Changmai Joy Chandra Nagbanshi Biren Borah Lukua Changmai 1,241 7,902 995 303 @@@

(3.) In this Election petition, the petitioner has prayed for scrutiny and recounting of the rejected ballot papers and Ballot papers counted in favour of the respondents and thereafter declaring the result of respondent No. 1 void under Section 98B of the Act and declare the petitioner as elected. The material facts with respect to the allegations as stated out in the petition may be broadly summed up as follows :-