KISHAN KAUR Vs. SMT. SHANTI DEVI AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has filed this revision under Article 227 of the Constitution of India for quashing the impugned order dated December 14, 1995, of the additional Senior Judge -cum -Election Tribunal, Safidon, district Jind, whereby recount of votes has been ordered.

(2.) ADUMBRATED facts of the case are that respondent No. 1 (Smt. Shanti Devi) filed an election petition on February 14, 1995. Petitioner filed her written statement on May 20, 1995. Respondent No. I without leading any evidence filed a petition Annexure P -l on August 26, 1995, alleging that she has relinquished her ground taken in para 2(ii) of the petitition and only claims recounting by re -examining ballot papers and also by calling missing ballot papers wrongly put in the other boxes at the time of simultaneous voting for the members of the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad. The petitioner filed reply Annexure P -2 wherein she objected that without recording evidence for recount cannot be passed. She also, denied that three ballot papers were wrongly put in the other boxes at the time of simultaneous voting for the members of Block Samiti and Zila Parishad. An objection was also raised that the election -petitioner has no right to summon the ballot boxes of the election of Zila Parishad and Block Samiti in this manner.

(3.) BY the impugned order Election Tribunal allowed the respondent -election petitioner's petition Annexure P -l by holding that the petitioner has given up her other ground of challenge with regard to corrupt practices and is only making a prayer for recount, which falls within the ambit of Section 176(4)(b) of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Election Act, 1994 (in short, the Act), which does not require any enquiry. It also held that this provision has made it obligatory for the Court to make a scrutiny and computation of votes polled in favour of each candidate in all the cases where validity of an election is disputed between two or more candidates and where the challenge is not founded on any allegation of corrupt practice. Relying on Smt. Rajwati v. Smt. Rajesh Kumar the Election Tribunal while allowing the respondent -election petitioner's petition ordered recount of the votes.