( 1 ) THIS is an appeal under Section 116a of the Representation of the People Act, Act No. 43 of 1951, as amended by Act No. 27 of 1956. It will be called hereinafter the Act.

( 2 ) THE appeal arises out of an election held for electing a member to the U. P. Legislative assembly from Constituency No. 24 known as Thanabhawan constituency of Muzaffarnagar district, in the State of U. P. There were only two contesting candidates at the election, namely, the appellant Sri Ghayur Ali Khan and the respondent Sri Keshav Gupta. The appellant belonged to the Praja Socialist Party and the respondent to the Congress Party. There was thus a straight contest between the candidates set up by the two parties. The polling took place on 6-3-1957 and the counting of votes took place on the next day, when the appellant was held to have secured 25933 votes and the respondent 25258 votes. The appellant was accordingly declared to have been duly elected as a member of the U. P. Legislative Assembly from the above constituency. The respondent then submitted an election petition to the Election Commission, which was, in due course, forwarded to the District Judge of Muzaffarnagar, Sr