P.K. Balasubramanyan, J.

1. In the elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly held on 21.02.2002, the appellant herein was declared elected from 166, Kauriram Assembly Constituency (General). The election of the appellant was challenged by the respondent, the defeated candidate, by Election Petition No. 5 of 2002 filed in the High Court of Allahabad under Section 80 read with Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The challenge to the election was rested on Section 100 (1) (c) of the Act. The plea was that the Returning Officer, while scrutinizing the nominations, had wrongly rejected the nomination of an independent candidate Sita Ram examined as P.W. 2. The appellant resisted the election petition by questioning the right of the election petitioner to file the election petition based on the rejection of the nomination of another candidate, who had not come forward to challenge that rejection. The High Court, based on the decision of this Court in Somnath Rath v. Bikram K. Arukh & ors. [(1999) Supp. 2 S.C.R. 410), took the view that the wrongful rejection of the nomination of any candidate can be taken as a ground for challenging an election in an electi