Judgment

BOSE, J.: This is an appeal against a decision of the Nagpur Election Tribunal. The contest before the Tribunal was about two seats in the Bhandara Parliamentary constituency. The elections were held on five days in December 1951 and January 1952.

2. Thirteen candidates filed nomination papers, among them the petitioner. Of these six contested the seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes. One of these was Gangaram Thaware who has since died.

3. The scheduled caste in question is the Mahar caste. Objection was taken to Thaware s nomination for the reserved seat on the ground that he was not a Mahar. It is admitted that he was born a Mahar, but later in life he joined the Mahanubhava Panth. This, according to the appellant, is a sect which does not believe in caste, and alternatively that it forms a separate caste in itself. The contention was that when Gangaram Thaware joined the Panth he ceased to be a member of the Mahar caste. The objection succeeded and his nomination was rejected.

4. The nomination of another schedule caste candidate was also rejected and five others were withdrawn before the election, among them was the present petitioner. That left six-candidates of whom t