MANI LAL YADAVA Vs. BUDHINATH JHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been filed by Sri Mani Lal Yadav under Section 116-A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Act No. XLIII of 1951). It is directed against the order of the Election Tribunal of the Santhal Parganas, dated the 19th September, 1960, by which, order the Election Tribunal has declared the election of Sri Mani Lal Yadav, the returned candidate, to be void under Sectiion 100(1) (d) (iv) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (to be called hereinafter as the Act). The tacts are as follows; There was a constituency in the district of the Santhal Parganas known as Godda Constituency, which was a double member constituency. In the general election held in 1957, for election of members to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, there were two seats in this constituency, one a general seat, and another, a reserved seat for scheduled tribes. There were four candidates for the general seat and three for the reserved seat. The following persons were the candidates for the general seat: 1. The respondent in this appeal, Sri Budhi Nath Jha 'Kairava'. 2. The appellant, Sri Mani Lal Yadav, 3. Sri Ratneshwar Jha, and, 4. Sri Pradhan Kisku. The following persons were the candidates for the reserved seat: 1. Sri Chunka Hembrom, 2. Sri Barka Hansda, and, 3. Sri Prithwi Chandra Kisku. The Respondent was a candidate of the Indian National Congress Party for the general seat. According to the respondent, the appellant got himself declared to be a candidate of the Jharkhand Party, although he was not a candidate of that party. The last date for withdrawal of the nomination papers was the 4th February, 1957. On that date, in due course, the Returning Officer declared the seven candidates named above as validly nominated candidates. The allotment of symbols to the candidates could not, however, be made on that date as the Returning Officer was running temperature and was unable to remain in the Court any longer. Therefore, 6th February, 1957, was fixed for the allotment of symbols. On the 6th February, 1957, Sri Budhinath Jha 'Kairava' was recognised as a candidate on behalt of Congress, but the appellant, Sri Manilal Yadav could not be accepted as the official candidate of the Jharkhand Party, for the reasons given by the Returning Officer in his order of the 6th February, 1957. He was declared to be an independent candidate and allotted the symbol of an 'elephant'. Shortly speaking, the reasons for which the appellant was not recognised as a candidate for the Jharkhand Party on the 6th of February, 1957, were these: Although one Sanat Raut, calling himself the Secretary of the Jharkhand Party, Santhal Parganas, had sent an information stating that Mani Lal Yadav was one of the official candidates of the Jharkhand Party, as it happened, Sanat Raut was not one of the persons authorised by the Jharkhand Party for sending such information to the Returning Officer. A telegram dated the 23rd February, 1957, addressed to the Returning Officer had been received in his office on the 4th February, 1957, purporting to have been sent by Shri Ignaice Beck, General Secretary of the Jharkhand Party. In the telegram an information had been conveyed that the appellant was the official candidate of the Jharkhand Party for the Godda General Constituency. But as it happened, no letter confirming this information was sent to the office of Returning Officer, and so the signature of Sri Ignaice Beck could not be compared with the specimen signatures kept in the office of the Returning officer. It appears that a petition had also been filed before the Returning Officer on the 6th February, 1957, by one Durga Murmu, as the Local Secretary of the Jharkhand Party, reiterating that the appellant was a candidate of the Party for the general seat of the Assembly. It was prayed that the appellant he allotted the symbol of a 'Cock' assigned to the Jharkhand Party, or that, in the alternative, the allotment of symbols be postponed until 12 noon of the 7th February, 1957 until Sri Devi Soren arrived. It may be mentioned that both Sri Ignaice Beck and Sri Devi Soreh were authorised to convey to the Returning Officer the names of the official candidates of the Jharkhand Party but Sri Durga Murmu was not. As no action could be taken by the Returning Officer on the letter sent by Sanat Raut or on the telegram sent by Ignaice Beck or on the application filed by Durga Murmu, the Returning Officer declared the appellant to be an independent candidate, and, instead of allotting him the symbol of 'Cock' assigned to the Jharkhand Party, allotted him the symbol of an 'Elephant'. On the 7th February, 1957 another petition was filed before the Returning Officer by Chunka Hembrom, Lakhan Mahton and Babu Ram Hembrom on behalf of the appellant praying, amongst others, that the appellant should be allotted the official symbol of the Jharkhand Party, namely, a 'Cock'. In the alternative, it was prayed that the case might be referred to the Election Commission for allotment of the symbol of a 'Cock' to the official candidates of the Jharkhand Party. The prayers made on the 7th February, 1957, were rejected by the Returning Officer. The order, however, indicates that on the 6th February, 1957 at about 11-30 p.m. the Returning Officer had received a communication from Sri Devi Soren, one of the persons authorised on behalf of the Jharkhand Party to convey the names of the official candidates, that the appellant was an official candidate of that party. The letter had, of course, been received by the Returning Officer much after the actual allotment of the symbols on the 6th February, 1957. What happened thereafter has been stated in paragraph 62 of the order under appeal. On the 11th February, 1957, a telegram was sent by the Election Commission addressed to Ramchandra Prasad Verma, who was then the Assistant Returning Officer. The contents of the telegram may be quoted as follows:

(2.) The polling thereafter took place from the the 25th February, 1957, up to the 12th of March, 1957. On the 16th March, 1957, the results were announced after counting of the votes, and the appellant was declared elected to the general seat from Godda Constituency as a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The appellant had received 22,084 votes as compared with the respondent, who had received 18,633 votes. The other two contestants for the general seat, namely, Ratneshwar Jha and Pradhan Kisku had obtained 9,866 and 1,967 votes respectively. The three candidates for the reserved seat had obtained votes as follows: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_18_AIR(PAT)_1962Html1.htm</FRM> On the 29th April, 1957, the respondent, Budhinath Jha 'Kairava' presented a petition to the Election Commission of India, Delhi, praying that the election of the appellant Mani Lal Yadav from Godda Assembly Constituency may be declared to be void and that he himself may be declared to have been duly elected from the said constituency to the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The prayers made in the petition fell within the purview of Sections 81 and 84 of the Act.

(3.) As mentioned in paragraph 5 of the order under appeal, the election of the appellant was challenged mainly on the grounds that he had indulged in corrupt practices and that he had been illegally allotted the symbol of a 'Cock' which was the accepted symbol of the Jharkhard Party.