JUDGMENT

A.K. Sikri, Acting Chief Justice:

1. We would like to start with the following quote from Mohinder Singh Vs. Chief Election Commissioner, AIR 1978 SC 85:

"Democracy is government by the people. It is a continual participative operation, not a cataclysmic, periodic exercise. The little man, in his multitude, marking his vote at the poll does a social audit of his Parliament plus political choice of his proxy. Although the full flower of participative Government rarely blossoms, the minimum credential of popular government is appeal to the people after every term for a renewal of confidence. So we have adult franchise and general elections as constitutional compulsions. "the right of election is the very essence of the constitution" (Junius). It needs little argument to hold that the heart of the Parliamentary system is free and fair election periodically held, based on adult franchise, although social and economic democracy may demand much more."

2. In Rameshwar Prasad and others (VI) Vs. Union of India and another (2006) 2 SCC 1, Justice Pasayat struck following sound note in this behalf:

"Therefore, the well-recognised position in law is that purity in the electoral p