JUDGMENT

DESAI, J.:— Purity of election and secrecy of ballot, two central pillars supporting the edifice of Parliamentary democracy envisioned in the constitution stand in confrontation with each other or are complimentary to each other, present the core problem in this appeal.

2. First to the factual metrix. Punjab Legislative Assembly formed a constituency for electing members to the Council of States. On March 3, 1976, a notification was issued calling upon the members of Punjab Legislative Assembly to elect three members to the Council of States. The election programme was : March10, 1976, was prescribed as the last date for filing nominations; the scrutiny of the nominations was to be made on March 11, 1976; March 13, 1976, was the last date by which it was permissible to withdraw from the election; in the event of contest, poll was to take place on March 27, 1976; counting was to be done on the same day. Respondent 4 Smt. Amarjit Kaur and respondent 5 Satpal Mittal were nominated as candidates of the political party described as Indian National Congress. Appellant Sardar Raghbir Singh Gill claimed to be an independent candidate. Respondent 1 Gurcharan Singh Tohra was a nomine