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PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT
D.Falshaw and Gurdev Singh JJ.
S.Mehar Singh
Versus
Umrao Singh
First Appeal First Order No. 1 of 1960,
Decided On : SEPTEMBER 15, 1960
ELECTION LAW - Representation of the People Act, 1951 - Section 123(2), 123(3), 123(4) - Undue influence - Corrupt practices - Election expenses - Appeal to voters - National symbols - False statements - Interpretation and application.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant, Mehar Singh, was declared elected as a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Faridkot constituency in the 1957 general elections. His election was challenged by two voters of the constituency, Umrao Singh and Lall Singh, who alleged various electoral offences, including undue influence, exceeding the permitted election expenses, and publication of false statements.
Finding of the Court:
The Tribunal declared the appellant's election void on the grounds of undue influence and exceeding the permitted election expenses. The High Court, on appeal, set aside the Tribunal's order and upheld the appellant's election.
Issues: 1. Whether the posters issued during the election campaign amounted to undue influence under Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951? 2. Whether the appellant exceeded the permitted election expenses under Section 123(4) of the Act? 3. Whether the posters contained false statements in relation to the personal character or conduct of the opposing candidate under Section 123(4) of the Act?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. Undue Influence: - The Court held that the posters issued during the election campaign, which appealed to voters to support the Congress candidates, did not amount to undue influence under Section 123(2) of the Act. - The Court observed that the posters contained no threats or pressure and that the appeals were general in nature, urging voters to support the Congress party and its candidates. - The Court further noted that the alleged unauthorized use of names of certain individuals in the posters did not constitute undue influence, as there was no evidence that the individuals disapproved of the appeals. 2. Election Expenses: - The Court found that the appellant had received sums of money from the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and the PEPSU Pradesh Congress Committee during the election campaign. - However, the Court held that the petitioners failed to prove that the appellant had actually spent more than the permitted election expenses of Rs. 7,000/-. - The Court observed that the onus was on the petitioners to establish that the appellant had spent the alleged excess amount, and that a mere suspicion or strong suspicion was not sufficient. 3. False Statements: - The Court examined the posters alleged to contain false statements in relation to the personal character or conduct of the opposing candidate. - The Court held that the allegations in the posters were not personal attacks on the candidate's character but rather criticisms of his conduct as a ruling prince and a politician. - The Court further held that the allegation that the candidate had collected and burnt the goods of Muslims was not a personal allegation against him, as it referred to actions taken by officials of the State during his reign.
Final Decision: The High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the Tribunal's order declaring the appellant's election void, and upheld the appellant's election. The parties were ordered to bear their own costs.
Falshaw, J.
1. This appeal arises out of the election of a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Faridkot constituency at the time of the general elections in 1957. Polling took place on the 10th of March 1957 and the present appellant, who had polled 18,579 votes, was declared elected. His nearest rival, who had 37,455 votes, was His Highness Raja Sir Harinder Singh, the erstwhile Ruler of the State of Faridkot.
The election was challenged in a petition filed under Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by two voters of the constituency, Umrao Singh and Lall Singh, who had admitted in the course of evidence to be employed by His Highness the Baja and to have received financial support from him in connection with the petition.
2. In the petition a large number of detailed allegations of all kinds of electoral offences were made and the issues framed on the basis of these allegations cover almost two pages of the printed report of the judgment of the Tribunal published in the Punjab Gazette. I do not consider that it is accessary to reproduce them in full here and it will be sufficient for the purposes of the appeal if those issues are mentioned on which the Tribunal decided against the successful candidate and on account of which his election was declared to be void, and also those issues on which the findings of the Tribunal in favour of the successful candidate have been attacked by the learned counsel for the respondents in the appeal for the purpose of upholding the decision of the Tribunal on other grounds.
The election of the successful candidate was declared to be void on the basis of findings against him on three parts of the second issue framed, which were held to be instances of undue influence, and the finding on the sixth issue to the effect that he had incurred or authorised expenditure in contravention of law or, in other words, in excess of the permitted maximum of Rs. 7,000/-.
3. The first matters to be dealt with are the alleged instances of undue influence which have been found against the appellant. They are covered by the following parts of the second issue:
"II(b) Whether the poster captioned Appeal as mentioned in para 6(II)(b) of the election petition was issued under the authority of Hon ble Shri Jagjiwan Ram?
(c) Whether the said poster amounts to undue influence?
(g) Whether the poster captioned Appeal as mentioned in para 6(II)(e) of the election petition was issued under the authority of Shri Karam Chand Bhandari?
(h) Whether the said poster amounts to undue influence?
(i) Whether the poster captioned Appeal as mentioned in para 6(II)(f) of the election petition was issued under the authority of Sarvshri Harbans Singh, Harkirpal Singh and Inder Singh?
(j) Whether the said poster amounts to undue influence?"
4. The first of the above posters as translated
"To the voters of Faridkot Appeal Voters Sahiban. After the independence of India the Congress for the last ten years has been engaged in the reconstruction of the country. First Five-Year Plan has been completed and the Second Five-Year Plan is being implemented, on completion of which Bharat would rank in the front rank of the nations of world. At this stage to complete the Second Five-Year Plan, to solve rightly the problems of the Scheduled Castes, to end the cold war between India and Pakistan and to find a solution of the Kashmir problem it is essential that Congress should be voted to success. I appeal to the Scheduled Caste voters specially and the general voters generally that they should vote for the Congress candidates in their boxes bearing the symbol of two bullocks with yoke on and make them successful."
Then follows a pictorial reproduction of the symbol and then the name "Jagjiwan Ram, Minister Railway Vibhag, Government of India, New Delhi."There is obviously nothing offensive in the contents of this poster, which is a general appeal to the voters to support the Congress candidates, not only M
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