This is a writ petition under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution by one Brij Sunder Sharma (hereinafter referred to as the petitioner) whose election to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from the Bundi Constituency was challenged by Shri Ram Dutt, respondent No. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the respondent) by the election petition, challenging on order of the Election Tribunal Kota directing a recount of the ballot papers.

2. The election was contested by five candidates and the result of the counting was as follows—

(1) Shri Brij Sunder Sharma ... ... ... 8849

(2) Shri Ram Dutt ... ... ... 8821

(3) Shri Ram Chandra ... ... ... 4661

(4) Shri Ranglal ... ... ... 2360

(5) Shri Ravi Datta ... ... ... 782

3. The Returning Officer rejected 1032 ballot papers as invalid. The petitioner, who secured 28 votes more than the respondent, was declared elected. The respondent challenged the election on the petitioner inter alia on the ground that about 100 valid votes cast in his favour were improperly rejected by the Returning Officer, that a number of invalid votes were wrongly counted in favour of the petitioner, that mistakes were made in sorting the ballot papers with the result that votes c

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