JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-Being aggrieved by the judgment of the Designated Election Tribunal (High Court of Judicature at Bombay) dated 23rd July, 1999 in Election Petition No. 2/98 the appellant above named has preferred this appeal. For the sake of convenience, the parties will be referred to as they were arrayed in the election petition before the High Court.

2. The petitioner filed the aforesaid election petition before the High Court challenging the election of respondent No.1 to the Maharashtra Legislative Council which was held on 18th of June, 1998 on the ground that the nomination paper of respondent No.1 filed in the said election was invalid in law since the same was not subscribed by the proposers as required under Section 33(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (for short the Act ) because the proposers did not consciously propose the nomination of respondent No.1 and they had signed only a blank form. He also contended that in the event of respondent No.1 s election being declared invalid, he is entitled to be declared as the elected candidate.

3. Respondent No. 1 opposed the election petition contending that the petition was barred by limitation as stip