JUDGMENT

R.C. Lahoti, J.- Pursuant to a Notification issued by the Governor of Bihar under Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter the 1951 Act, for short), biennial elections to the Bihar Legislative Council from the Patna Teachers Constituency were held in April, 1996. There were four candidates in the fray including Nawal Kishore Yadav, the respondent, who defeated his nearest rival candidate Dr. P.N. Sharma by a margin of 870 votes. Polling was held on 28.4.1996 whereat the respondent secured 3414 votes as against 2544 votes secured by Dr. P.N. Sharma. The respondent was declared elected.

2. On 24.4.1996 the appellant, an elector duly enrolled in the electoral list of the constituency filed an election petition under Section 80 of the 1951 Act calling in question the election of the respondent. The only ground alleged in support of prayer for avoiding the election of the respondent was the registration and enrolment of a large number of ineligible persons as electors in the electoral roll and consequently improper reception of votes cast by such illegal electors which had resulted in materially affecting the result of the election insofar as the retu