Judgment

HEGDE, J.:- This is an appeal under Section 116A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (to be hereinafter referred to as the Act) from the judgment and order dated July 14, 1969 of the Patna High Court in Election Petition No. 1 of 1968.

2. A biennial election to the Rajya Sabha was held in March 1968. In that election, Bihar Legislative Assembly had to elect seven members to the Rajya Sabha. Twenty persons contested for those seven seats. The appellant is one of them. The appellant failed to get the required number of votes. By means of an election petition which has given rise to this appeal, he challenged the validity of the election of the 1st respondent on two grounds viz. (1) that the nomination of respondent No. 1 was improperly accepted inasmuch as he was not qualified to be enrolled as an elector in the electoral roll of West Patna Assembly constituency for the time being in force on the ground that he was then not ordinarily resident in the said constituency, but was on the other hand, ordinarily resident in Alipur constituency of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and (2) that he was guilty of corrupt practice within the meaning of sub-section (1) of Section 123 of the Act, inasmuch as he had not only made offers but also payments of money to various electors as motive or reward for voting in his favour.

3. The election petition was resisted by the 1st respondent on various grounds. One of the contentions taken by him was that the petition was not in accordance with the provisions of Sections 81, 82 and 117 of the Act and therefore it was not maintainable. The High Court has accepted that contention. It has also rejected the other pleas taken by the appellant as we are in agreement with the High Court that the election petition is liable to be dismissed under Section 86 of the Act, we do not think it necessary to go into the merits of the case.

Section 86 (1) of the Act provides: "The High Court shall dismiss an election petition which does not comply with the provisions of Section 81 or Section 82 or Section 117".

4. Section 81 (3) requires (I) that every election petition shall be accompanied by as many copies thereof as there are respondents mentioned in the petition and (ii) that every such copy shall be attested by the petitioner under his own signature to be a true copy of the petition. The contention of the 1st respondent is that the copy served on him which is marked Exh.. O in the trial Court is not the true copy of the election petition filed in Court. In the High Court it was contended that Exh. O is not a genuine document but that contention was not pressed before us. Therefore, we have to proceed on the basis that Exh. O is a copy served on the 1st respondent.

5. The discrepancies between the election petition filed in Court and Exh. O are set out by the High Court in paragraph 15 of the its judgment. That paragraph to the extent material for our present purpose reads:

" x x x x

(a) In paragraph 12, as also in paragraph 13 of the original, it has been stated that the total number of elected members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly at the time of the impugned election was 316, whereas in Ext. O this figure has been stated to be 317 in both these paragraphs.

(b) In paragraph 16 of the original it has been stated that respondents 2 and 3 had been set up as candidates in the election by the Samyukta Socialist Party, and as to respondents 6 and 5, it was stated that they had been set up by the Communist Party of India and the Jana Sangh respectively. But in Ext. O it has been stated that the candidates who were set up by the Samyukta Socialist Party were respondents 2 and 6, while respondents 3 and 5 had been set up by the Communist Party of India and the Jana Sangh respectively.

(c) In paragraph 28 of the original the following passage occurs:

"Particulars of the gifts and gratifications in the form of bribe offered by respondent No. 8 and his election agent and his assent with the conn