MUKTIDANI SUMBRUI Vs. RADHE MUNDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two election petitions i. e., election petitions 7 and 8 of 1985 (R) have been tried analogously as both of them arise out of the same assembly constituency i. e. 295-Chaibasa Reserved Assembly Constituency for the Scheduled Tribes in the district of Singhbhum. In election petition No. 7/8 :(R) Mrs. Muktidani Sumbrui who as a candidate of that constituency nominated by Indian an National Congress, is The petitioner. In election petition No. 8/85(R) Gomeya Purty is the petitioner who has filed his election petition on the ground that his nomination paper was wrongly rejected by the Returning Officer. The case of both the election petitioners substantially are the same and it is convenient to state them together,

(2.) Respondent No. 1, Shri Radhe Munda who was a candidate of Bhartiya Janta Party, was declared elected from 295-Chaibasa Assembly Constituency and it is his election which is being challenged in these two election petitions with a view that the same should be set aside.

(3.) The case of the petitioners in both the election petitions is that the last Assembly Election, the process of which started in January, 1985, ultimately concluded on 6th of March, 1985 and the Returning Officer had declared respondent No. 1, Radhe Munda (B.J.P.) as elected from the aforesaid constit- uency. It is claimed by both the petitioners that respondents 1 to 12 were the other candidates who had filed their nomination papers and the last date fixed for scrutiny was 7th February, 1985. Out of them the namination paper of Gomeya Purty, the petitioners of Election Petition No. 8/85(R), was rejected on scrutiny on the ground that he was not a member of Scheduled Tribe. His another nomination paper which was proposed by one Lanka Bari, was also rejected on the ground that proposer's name was not found in the electoral roll. It was claimed that the nomination paper of the Sonaram Nag who was not a member of Scheduled Tribe, was wrongly accepted by the Returning Officer. It is claimed that Sonaram Nag was disqualified to contest the election from that Assembly Constituency under law because he belongs to Tamariya caste which is listed as backward caste and not Scheduled Tribe under the constitution.