2012 Supreme(UK) 213

UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT
B.S. Verma
Election Petition No. 5 of 2007
SHAMIM ALAM – Petitioner
Versus
DINESH AGGARWAL – Respondent
Decided on : 15.06.2012

Headnote:(A) Election Petition — An election petition challenging the election of a returned candidate on the grounds of corrupt practices is not a criminal proceeding — But it is no less than a criminal proceeding with regard to the proof required to be furnished to the court by the petitioner — Though, in the present case, the charges are not those of corrupt practices, they are no lesser in terms of seriousness — Hence the burden of proof is on the election petitioner to prove the charges he has made beyond reasonable doubt — This is done so that the purity of the election process is maintained. (Para 45)

       (B) Representation of People Act, 1951, Sec. 81 — Election petition — Challenging the election of the returned candidate — Main grounds of challenge being that the respondent had put up a hoarding with the national flag showing the Ashok Chakra with 24 spokes of the wheel — It was done for furtherance of the prospects of the election of the respondent and in support of it — And such photograph of the hoarding with the impression of the national flag and such a practice as adopted falls within the purview of the corrupt practices as provided u/s 123(3) of the Act, 1951 — Held — That the election petitioner had showed his ignorance as to who had installed the banner in question — And, the election petitioner had also not examined the person who had developed the photograph and the negative of the photograph or the sim-card of mobile was not filed on record neither have been proved in accordance with law — So far as distribution of Fatwa is concerned, the election petitioner had failed to produce the original Fatwa on record — Further held that the election petitioner had not filed any primary evidence in the case at hand to establish corrupt practice against the returned candidate — Moreover, no effort had been made to establish the fact of corrupt practice by secondary evidence — Also, the evidence led by the election petitioner, quite shaky and he has utterly failed to establish either of the grounds of corrupt practice raised in the election petition against the returned candidate — Therefore, no case of corrupt practice is made out against the returned candidate so as to declare the election of the returned candidate null and void — Election petition dismissed.

        (Paras 2, 4, 62 to 64)

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