Judgment

ORDER:- Our brother Beg J., sitting Chambers has referred this Election Petition for preliminary hearing as to whether the petitioner has locus standi and whether he can proceed further with the petition. The question before us, therefore, is whether the petitioner is a "candidate" as defined in Section 13 (a) for the petition would be maintainable by him only if he is "Candidate" as defined in Section 13 (a). The Petitioner claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate and we have therefore to determine whether his claim is well-founded. His nomination was rejected on the ground of non-compliance with Sections 5B and 5C introduced in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act 1952 by an amendment made by Act 5 of 1974. These sections read as follows:

"5B (1) On or before the date appointed under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 4, each candidate shall, either in person or by any of his proposers or seconders, between the hours of eleven o clock in the forenoon and three o clock in the afternoon deliver to the Returning Officer at the place specified in this behalf in the public notice issued under Section 5 a nomination paper completed in the prescribe