Judgment

SHAH, J. : At the general elections held in February 1967, Brijraj Singh (first respondent in this appeal) was declared elected to a seat in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from the Sabalgarh Constituency defeating his rival candidate Raja Pancham Singh by 1706 votes. The appellant Ram Dayal who is a voter in the constituency moved an election petition in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh for an order setting aside the election on two grounds :

(1) that the nomination paper of one Dhani Ram was illegally rejected by the Returning Officer; and

(2) that Brijraj and his agents committed several corrupt practices in relation to the election.

A third ground that Dataram (third respondent in this appeal) when his nomination was accepted was below the age of 25 and was on that account incompetent to stand for election, was sought to be set up an application for amendment of the election petition. The application was disallowed by the High Court. The High Court held that an application for amendment which sought to set up a new ground made after the expiry of the period prescribed for filing an election petition cannot be entertained. On a consideration of the evidence the High