The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and case law on striking off pleadings to determine the relevance and necessity of specific paragraphs in an election petition.

K.VENKATARAMAN, J.

The present application has been filed seeking to strike out the pleadings in the election petition as envisaged under Order VI Rule 16 C.P.C.

2. For the sake of convenience, the applicant herein is referred as - Returned Candidate -, the first respondent is referred as -election petitioner -and the other respondents are referred in their respective position.

3. The election petitioner filed the election petition to declare the election of the Returned Candidate as null and void. Several grounds have been raised in the election petition. In the present application, the Returned Candidate seeks to eschew the pleadings in paragraphs 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 62 and 63 of the election petition and also paragraphs 33 and 34 of the election petition together with video footage recorded on 24.3.2011, 6.4.2011 and 7.4.2011 concerning police inaction against alleged illegal acts of distributrion of money to the voters, without any material particulars.

4. The reasons set out in the application are:-

(a) Irrelevant materials have been stated for the sole purpose of carrying out velification campaign to embarrass the Returned Candidate and tarnish the image of the party.

(b) The averments contained in the election petition, more particularly, the paragraphs referred to above are irrelevant and without cause of action.

(c) The statements made in the above referred to paragraphs are completely unnecessary and also scurrilous, which should not be permitted to form part of the pleadings. The allegations made thereunder have been included only to cause embarrassment and humiliate the Returning Candidate and his family.

(d) The allegations made in paragraphs 10, 11, 12 and 13 are only aimed at for character assassination and velification of the DMK party.

(e) The reference made about the compact discs in paragraphs 33 and 34 are vague and the particulars as to who has taken the videos and other particulars have not been given.

(f) There is no pleading in the election petition that the election petitioner was personally present when the video was being shot nor it has been alleged that he has personally verified the footage to be a true depiction of the events which captured from the persons who have shot the videos.

5. Counter affidavit was filed on behalf of the first respondent / election petitioner, wherein the following facts have been set out:-

(a) The present application has been filed only to drag on the proceedings in a frivolous manner when the time limit prescribed to dispose of the election petition is six months under the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951. When the Returned Candidate has not filed any written statement in the main election petition till date, it is not open to him to dissect the pleadings according to his convenience and seeks the relief to strike off the same.

(b) A perusal of the election petition averments would show that all the necessary material facts and material particulars have been disclosed along with documentary evidence, which would show that the election petition filed is in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951.

(c) If the election petition averments are seen in entirety, it can be seen that the averments made in these paragraphs do not offend the rule of pleadings or cannot be said to be forbidden under any law.

(d) The election petitioner produced the video footages obtained from the Election Commissioner of India in the same format in order to prove the inaction on the part of the police officials and the act of distribution of money to the voters in the respective places.

(e) The CDs given by the Election Commission of India recorded at their instance cannot be doubted at this stage and every opportunity should be given to prove those facts. When the compact discs received from the election commission of India have been filed along with the election petition, the genuineness of the same cannot be