Judgment

GAJENDRAGADKAR, C.J.I.: This appeal has been brought to this Court by the appellant, Dr. Jagjit Singh, on a certificate granted to him by the Punjab High Court. It arises from an election petition filed by him on April 10, 1962 before the Election Tribunal (II), Chandigarh (No. 99 of 1962) against the five respondents. These respondents are: Giani Kartar Singh, Shiv Singh, Chanan Ram, Om Prakash and Bhagat Singh, respectively. The appellant contested the election to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Dasuya Constituency at the last General Election in the beginning of 1962. The result of this election was declared on February 25, 1962 when respondent No. 1, Giani Kartar Singh, was declared to have been duly elected. The appellant and respondent No. 1 had secured 22,406 and 22,803 votes, respectively; and so, it is clear that respondent No. 1 had a very narrow margin over the appellant. The other respondents appeared to have played no significant part in the election, because the votes they secured were 948, 682, 240 and 756, respectively. After the result of the election was announced, the appellant filed an election petition under the relevant provisions of the Repre