Specific pleadings with material facts are essential in election petitions to establish claims of corrupt practices; vague allegations are insufficient.

ORDER :

N. Anand Venkatesh, J.

This is an application filed by the applicant under Order VI Rule 16 of the CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE (CPC) seeking to strike off the pleadings from paragraphs 6 to 23 and 27 in the main election petition.

2. Heard both.

3. The first respondent/election petitioner filed the main election petition seeking to (a) declare that the election held in Chennai Central Loksabha Parliament Constituency was not free and fair and was vitiated by undue influence; (b) declare that the accounts submitted were suppressed and exceeded the limit prescribed and were of corrupt practice; (c) declare that the accounts submitted were violative of Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (for short, the Act) and disqualify the applicant under Section 10 -A of the Act; and (d) declare the election to the Chennai Central Loksabha Parliament Constituency as null and void.

4. In the main election petition, the first respondent alleged as follows :

(i) The campaign for the Loksabha elections came to an end on 17.4.2024. The "silence period" commenced whereby every one was expected to refrain from influencing the voters through any means till the conclusion of the polling as per Section 126 of the Act. However, the party, to which, the applicant belongs, gave a full page advertisement in four daily newspapers on 19.4.2024, which was the polling day and this was in violation of Section 126 of the Act and was a corrupt practice as per Section 123 of the Act.

(ii) The applicant had pasted stickers depicting his photograph, the symbol of the party, to which, he belongs and the leader of the party during the campaign in all the houses of the entire constituency. The expenditure of those stickers was not accounted for nor reflected in the accounts submitted by him towards election expenditure. The stickers did not bear the name of the publisher. The quantity of stickers that were printed was also not available and the stickers are still visible till date. Therefore, the cost of the stickers, which approximately worked out to Rs.58,50,000/-, was not added to the total expenditure.

(iii) Apart from that, the booth agents were provided with breakfast, lunch and tea expenses, which would cost at least Rs.100/- per head and which had led to incurring the additional expenses to the tune of Rs.1,15,300/-. Further, for the tables and chairs, which were provided near every polling booth for 1153 booths, the applicant incurred the further expenses to the tune of Rs.1,15,300/- and the applicant would have incurred the additional expenses of Rs.96,17,493/- in excess of the prescribed limit.

(iv) A massive rally was conducted on 14.4.2024 and 15.4.2024, for which, the applicant would have incurred expenses to the tune of Rs.96,51,493/-. But, this amount was also not accounted for. Therefore, the accounts that were submitted by the applicant to the Election Commission of India were vitiated as they did not reflect the actual expenditure incurred by the applicant and thereby, there is a violation of Section 77 (3) of the Act, which would tantamount to a corrupt practice under Section 123 (6) of the Act. With all these allegations, the first respondent sought for declaring the election held for the Chennai Central Loksabha Parliament Constituency as null and void.

5. Notice was ordered in the main election petition on 30.8.2024.

6. After service of notice, the applicant