VERY IMPORTANT POINTS
1. A person whose nomination paper did not satisfy the mandatory requirements of Section 5B(1)(a) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, cannot be regarded as a person who has been nominated or can not claim to have been duly nominated as candidate at the election in question.
2. For the purpose of Section 5B(1)(a) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, the nomination paper must be subscribed by the requisite number of members of the State Legislative Assemblies or Parliament as proposers and seconders and the value of the votes of the member has no bearing on the said requirement.

Headnote:(i) Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 as amended by Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 1997-Sections 14A, 13(a)-Presentation of Election petition challenging Presidential election-Can be presented either by a candidate at such election or twenty or more electors joined together as petitioners-Definition of candidate as contained in Section 13(a)-A person who has been or claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate at an election is to be treated as a candidate -Whether petitioners, whose nomination papers did not satisfy requirements of Section 5B (1) (a) of the Act, can be regarded as candidate at the election?-(No)-Petitioners had no locus standi to challenge the election-Petition filed by two petitioners held not maintainable. (Supreme Court Rules, 1966-Order XXXIX, Rule 34; Order XXIII Rule 6).
       Held that neither of the petitioners was a candidate as the said expression is defined in Section 2(d) of the Act since neither of them had been duly nominated nor could he claim to have been nominated as a candidate inasmuch as the nomination papers filed by both of them did not comply with the mandatory requirements of Section 5B(1)(a) of the Act and the nomination paper of petitioner No. 2 was filed without complying with the requirements of Section 5B(2) of the Act. On that view it must be held that neither of the petitioners has the locus standi to maintain the petition. (Para 18)
       Further held that since the nomination papers of the petitioners did not fulfil the mandatory requirements of Section 5B(1)(a) of the Act and petitioner No. 2 also failed to comply with the requirements of Section 5B(2) of the Act, the petitioners were not duly nominated as candidate at the election and they cannot also claim to be duly nominated as candidate at the election and they cannot be regarded as "candidate" under Section 13(a) of the Act. (Para 21)
       (ii) Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952-Sections 5B and 5C as they stood prior to 5.6.1997-Validity of-Upheld by this Court in Charan Lal Sahu s case-Challenge to validity of amendments introduced by Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 1997-Upheld-Validity of Section 5B challenged on ground that it violates principle of secrecy of ballot incorporated in Article 55(3) of the Constitution-Requirement in Section 5B (1) (a) about nomination paper being subscribed by a particular number of electors as proposers and seconders-Whether involve infringement of secrecy of ballot at the election?-(No).
       Held : The requirement in Section 5B(1)(a) about the nomination paper being subscribed by a particular number of electors as proposers and seconders does not, in any way, involve the infringement of the secrecy of ballot at the election inasmuch as the elector who has subscribed the nomination paper of a person as a proposer or as a seconder is free to cast his vote in favour of any candidate and is not bound to vote for the person whose nomination paper he has subscribed as a proposer or seconder. The identity of the candidate in whose favour he has cast his vote is not to be disclosed. (Para 19)
       (iii) Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 as amended by Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 1997-Section 5B(1)(a) -Presidential Election-Nomination paper must be subscribed by 50 electors as proposers and by 50 electors as subscribers-Definition of expression elector value of votes of the member has no bearing on requirement laid down in Section 5B(1)(a).
       Held : Under Section 5B(1)(a) what is required is that the nomination paper must be subscribed by 50 electors as proposers and by 50 electors as subscribers. In relation of Presidential election the expression "elector" is defined in Section 2(d) of the Act to mean a member of the electoral college referred to in Article 54. Under Article 54 every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the State is a member of the electoral college for election of the President. In other words, each member of the Legislative Assembly of a State is an elector under Section 2(d) of the Act. For the purpose of Section 5B(1)(a) of the Act the nomination paper must be subscribed by the requisite number of members of the State Legislative Assemblies or Parliament as proposers and seconders and the value of the votes of the member has no bearing on the said requirement laid down in Section 5B(1)(a) of the Act. (Para 20)
       (iv) Presidential Election-Constitution of India-Article 71-Presidential Election Petition-Petitioner No. 1 had earlier filed three election petitions challenging election of returned candidates in Presidential elections held in years 1974, 1977 and 1982-Petitioner No. 2 had earlier filed election petitions in years 1987 and 1992-All petitions dismissed on ground that petitioners had no locus standi to maintain petitions-Present election petitions filed jointly by two petitioners-Abuse of process of Court-Dismissed on same ground as not maintainable-Costs quantified at Rs. 10,000/-.
       Held : This election petition which has been jointly filed by the two petitioners shows no improvement. It suffers from the same defects as the earlier petitions filed by the petitioners. It seems that the petitioners are obsessed with a desire that they should find a place in some Book of Records. They find the temptation to file an election petition after the Presidential election too difficult to resist. It is a matter of regret that petitioner No. 1, who happens to be an advocate himself, has been persisting in this past time knowing well that such conduct on his part amounts to an abuse of the process of law. This Court has so far refrained from imposing costs in the election petitions that were filed by the petitioners earlier. It is high time that the petitioners who have persisted in filing this petition in spite of the law laid down authoritatively by this Court in the earlier decisions are saddled with costs. (Para 23)

JUDGMENT

S.C. Agrawal, J.-This election petition has been filed jointly by two petitioners, namely, Charan Lal Sahu and Mithelesh Kumar. They have challenged the election of respondent No. 1 to the office of the President of India in the election that was held for the said Office in pursuance of the notification dated June 9, 1997 published by the Returning Officer, Shri S. Gopalan, Secretary General, Lok Sabha. The said election was conducted under the provisions of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ).

2. Part II of the Act (Sections 3 to 12) contains provisions relating to conduct of Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections. Section 3 provides for appointment of the Returning Officer and the Assistant Returning Officer/Officers by the Election Commission. Section 4(1) of the Act makes provision for issuance of a notification by the Election Commission prescribing the last date for making nominations, the date for the scrutiny of nominations, the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures, the date on which a poll shall, it necessary, be taken. Section 5 provides for giving of a public notice of election by the Returning Officer after the issuance of the notification under sub-section (1) of Section 4. Section 5A prescribes that any person may be nominated as a candidate for election to the office of President or Vice-President if he is qualified to be elected to that office under the Constitution. Section 5B provides for presentation of nomination papers and lays down the requirements for a valid nomination. Sub-section (1) of Section 5B requires that the nomination paper completed in the prescribed from must be subscribed by the candidate as assenting to the nomination. In clause (a) of sub-section (1), as it stood prior to June, 5, 1997, it was further prescribed that in the case of Presidential Election, the nomination papers shall also be subscribed by at least ten electors as proposers and at least ten electors as seconders. Sub-section (2) of Section 5B lays down that each nomination paper shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate in the electoral roll for the parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector. A nomination paper to which such certified copy is not attached is required to be rejected under sub-section (4) of Section 5B. Section 5C, prior to June 5, 1997, prescribed that a candidate shall not be deemed to be duly nominated for election unless he deposits or causes to be deposited a sum of two thousand five hundred rupees. Section 5E makes provision for scrutiny of nominations and under sub-section (3) a nomination paper can be rejected by the Returning Officer on the grounds (a) to (e) of that sub-section. Ground (C) provides for rejection of a nomination paper on the ground that it is not subscribed by the required number of proposers or seconders and ground (e) provides for rejection on the ground that there has been a failure to comply with any of the provisions of Section 5B or Section 5C. Section 6 deals with withdrawal of candidature. Section 8 lays down the procedure in contested and uncontested elections. Section 9 provides for manner of voting at elections and Section 10 deals with counting of votes. Section 11 provides for declaration of result after the counting of votes has been completed.

3. Part III of the Act (Sections 13 to 20) contains provisions relating to Disputes regarding elections. Sub-section (1) of Section 14 prescribes that no election shall be called in question excepting by presenting an election petition and under sub-section (2) this Court has been specified as the authority which shall have jurisdiction to try an election petition. Sub-section (1) of Section 14A lays down that an election petition can either be presented by any candidate at such election or, in the case of Presidential election, by twenty or more electors joined together as petitioners. T

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1997 Supreme(SC) 1509

Cases Referred (5)