The election petition and the affidavit accompanying it must comply with the mandatory provisions of Section 83(1)(a) & (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

V.S. Kokje, J.-This is the respondent’s application in an election petition for striking out pleadings and rejection of the petition for non-compliance with the provisions of Section 83(1)(a) & (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (for short ‘the Act’ hereinafter). The application has been moved under Order Vi Rule 16 and Order VII Rule 11 of the code of civil Procedure read with Sections 83, 86 and 87 of the Act.

2. It would be necessary to state basic facts before dealing with the application.

3. Thepetition relates to the respondent’s election to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from Bali constituency (No. 166). October 19, 1993 was the last date for filing nominations, October 20, 1993 was the

date fixed for scrutiny of nominations, October 22, 1993 was the last date for withdrawal of candidature, November 11, 1993 was the date of polling and November 27, 1993 was the date on which the counting was to commence. The original petitioner Mitha Lal Jain was the candidate set up by the Indian National congress whereas the respondent was the candidate set up by the Bhartiya Janta Party. The respondent was declared elected at the election and Mitha Lal Jain, the original petitioner challenged the election by filing the election petition on January 12, 1994.

4. The election of the respondent was challenged on the grounds enumeraled in Section 100(i)(b) of the Act. To appreciate the controversy, it could be necessary to reproduce paragraph - 7 of the petition as also its verification PARA-7 (a) : that on 27th October, 1993 in a largely attended election meeting held in the afternoon in village Beda, which is situated in the constituency in question, the respondent Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (on a public address system) made an appeal in the name of Lord Ram for seeking votes and also referred to the demolition of the structure of Babari Masjid and construction of the Ram Tample in the context of promotion of hatred between different classes of citizens of India on the ground of religion and community. The offending statement/appeal constitutes corrupt practice of undue influence within the meaning of Section 123(2), appeal on the ground of religion and caste and use of religious symbol under Section 123(3) and relating to promotion of hatred between different classes of citizens of India on the ground of religion and community under Section 123 (3A) of the Act:

(b) that in the latter part of this speech the respondent Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat made an appeal to the electors to cast their votes for the furtherance of the prospects of his election on the ground of his religion (Hindu religion) and also made an appeal to the religious symbol of Goddess Laxmi seated on a lotus (Kamal Ka Phool) who is worshipped by every Hindu and particularly on the eve of ‘Dhan Teras’ and the lotus being the symbol allotted to BJP which constitutes a corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123(3) of the Act. The aforesaid speech is quoted as under:

ÞlHkk ds v/;{k egksn;]

mifLFkfr HkkbZ;ksa vkSj cguksa]

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