Election petitions must comply with procedural requirements and substantiate allegations with credible evidence; failure to do so results in dismissal.

Judgment:

ARUN R. PEDNEKER, J.

1. Heard Mr. Mukul Kulkarni along with Mr. Umesh G. Mitkari, learned counsel for the Election Petitioner, Mr. V. D. Salunke along with Mr. A. V. Deshmukh, learned counsel for Respondent No.3 in the Election Petition and Mr. Alok Sharma, learned Standing Counsel for the Election Commission.

2. General Elections to the 18^th Lok Sabha was announced on 16.03.2024 and Election / Voting to the Dhule Parliamentary Constituency was held on 20.05.2024 and Respondent No.3 was declared elected on 04.06.2024. The election petitioner was one of the candidates in the election who had secured the second highest votes. The elected candidates secured 5,83,866 votes while the election petitioner secured 5,80,035 votes. The difference in votes between the two candidates is 3831 votes.

3. The Dhule Parliamentary Constituency consists of 6 assembly constituencies, which are Dhule (Rural), Dhule (City), Sindkheda, Malegaon (Central), Malegaon (Outer) and Baglan.

In the Malegaon Central Constituency out of 02,05,588 votes polled, respondent no.3 had secured 1,98,869 votes, whereas the petitioner received only 4542 votes and none of the other candidates could pass 100 vote mark.

The Election Petition primarily focuses on this Assembly Constituency (Malegaon Central Constituency) and has filed Election Petition primarily contending that names of large number of dead persons are included in the electoral roll of this assembly constituency and votes are cast in the name of the dead persons and the same is received by Respondent No.3. It is also contended that there are multiple votes cast in the name of same persons in different booths in the said Assembly Constituency as their names are reflected in the Electoral Roll at multiple places of the same assembly constituency.

THE GIST OF THE ELECTION PETITION:

4. In the Election Petition, the relevant pleadings are as under:

“A. The petitioner states and submits that on inquiries the Petitioner came to know from Abhishek Rajgopal Rathi, Rajiya Akbar Shah, Subhash Jagannath Pachpute, Rajendra Jagannath Pachpute, Jayesh Dipak Sonagra, Umesh Ramesh Borwal, Ramesh Tukaram Chaudhari and Shital Ramchandra Pawar, who all are residents of Malegaon and party workers associated with the Petitioner during the election and have noted that votes were polled in the name of persons who were already dead and that these votes are polled in favour of Respondent No.3.

B. The Petitioner states and submits that the Petitioner applied to the Malegaon Municipal Corporation and sought details of the register maintained under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act in Malegaon Central Assembly Constituency. It is a matter of record that the said constituency consists of three Prabhags i.e. Prabhag No.2, 3 and 4 formed by the Municiple Corporation. In response to the information sought by the Petitioner, the Corporation has supplied the data containing the register of death maintained in respect of Prabhag No.2, 3 and 4 for the period of 01.01.2016 to 31.05.2024, except for the period of 2020 to 2021 for Prabhag No.4. As per the said register 17,767 persons have died during last 8 years 5 months. It is pertinent to note that entire data as solicited by Petitioner is not supplied to the Petitioner therefore the number stated above is minimum and bound to increase after the Petitioner received the entire data.

C. The Petitioner states and submits that when the Petitioner counter checked the entries in the said register supplied to Petitioner by Municipal Corporation, with the final list of voters, it revealed that as of now the final list of voters, it revealed that as of now the final l