Judgment

RAY, J.: This is an appeal from the judgment dated 17 July, 1970 of the High Court of Assam and Nagaland dismissing the appellant s election petition.

2. The appellant, respondent No. 1 Odyuo and respondents Nos. 2 and 3 were candidates at 37-Wokha Constituency at the election held in the month of February, 1969 for the purpose of constituting a new Legislative Assembly of the State of Nagaland.

3. The respondent Odyuo was declared elected. Odyuo obtained 1517 votes and the appellant 1485 votes. Odyuo secured 32 votes more than the appellant,

4. The appellant challenged the election of the respondent Odyuo as a member from 37-Wokha Constituency in the Nagaland Constituent Assembly. The grounds for impeaching the election were principally these. First, the result of the election in so far as it concerned the respondent Odyuo had been materially affected by the improper reception of 348 voter cast in his favour by the personnel of the 12th Battalion Assam Rifles then posted at Wokha and also by the wives of some of them who in view of section 20 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 referred to for the sake of brevity as the 1950 Act were not eligible to be enrolled as voters in the electoral roll of the Wokha Constituency. Second, the majority of those 348 voters were not citizens of India, and, therefore, the votes cast by them in favour of the respondent Odyuo were void. Third, if the aforesaid 348 votes or the majority of them as void votes were left out of account, the appellant had secured a majority of valid votes.

5. Among the ten issues frammed at the trial counsel for the appellant advanced arguments only on two issues. First, whether the personnel of the 12th Battalion, Assam Rifles whose names are registered as service electors in the last part of the Electoral Roll for 37-Wokha Constituency would, but for their service qualification, have been ordinarily resident of Wokha Constituency within the meaning of section 20 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Second, whether any of the electors registered as service electors in the last part of the said Electoral Roll were not Indian citizens.

6. This Court in Ramaswamy v. B.K. Krishnamurthy, (1963) 3 SCR 479 held that the finality of the electoral roll cannot be challenged in a proceeding impeaching the validity of the election. The effect of Section 30 of the 1950 Act was construed by this Court in the recent decision in Kabul Singh v. Kundan Singh, (1970) 1 SCR 845 to be that Sections 14 to 24 of the 1950 Act are a complete Code in the matter of preparation and maintenance of electoral rolls and Section 30 of the 1950 Act does not confer jurisdiction on a Civil Court to entertain or adjudicate upon a question whether a person is or is not entitled to register himself in the electoral roll in a constituency or to question the illegality of the action token by or under the authority of the Electoral Registration Officer or any decision given by the authority appointed under the 1950 Act for the revision of any such roll.

7. The Civil Court therefore would have no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon a question whether the personnel of the 12th Battalion Assam Rifles in the present case were validly registered as service electors. The contention on behalf of the appellant in the present case was that the Electoral Registration Officer had no jurisdiction to register the personnel of the 12th Battalion Assam Rifles as voters in Wokha Constituency because the service personnel under Section 20 (3) of the 1950 Act would be deemed to be ordinarily resident, on any date in the constituency in which, but for his having such service qualification, he would have been ordinarily resident on that date. The gist of the appellant s contention is that the members having service qualification cannot be registered as voters in the constituency in which they are posted or stationed in service and the Electoral Registration Officer would have no jurisdiction to re