The court affirmed the validity of the caste certificate of the respondent and dismissed the election petition for lack of merit, emphasizing that caste status disputes must be resolved by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, not in election petitions.

ORDER :

Sunita Yadav, J.

This election petition has been filed by the petitioner, who contested election from constituency No. 32, in the elections which were conducted in the year 2018 so as to constitute the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The petitioner was a candidate from Bhartiya Janata Party, whereas respondent No. 1 was a candidate from Indian National Congress.

FACTS :

2. That, on 2-11-2018, the Election Commission of India issued notification for election to the Legislative Assembly in the State of Madhya Pradesh. As per the said notification, the election was scheduled to be held as under :

3. The petitioner is the resident of Dist. Ashok Nagar. He contested the M. P. Vidhan Sabha General Election, 2018 (hereinafter to be referred as “Election of 2018”) as a candidate of Bhartiya Janta Party (hereinafter referred as “BJP”) from Dist. Ashok Nagar assembly Constituency No. 32 (S.C.) namely Ashok Nagar (hereinafter to be referred as “Constituency”). The respondent No. 1 contested election as a candidate of Indian National Congress (hereinafter referred as “INC”). Other respondents contested elections are narrated below:—

(i) Respondent No. 2 Balkrishna Mahobia contested election as Bahujan Samaj Party;

(ii) Respondent No. 3 Jagdish Bhandari contested election as Bahujan Sangarsh Dal;

(iii) Respondent No. 4 Dayalu Das contested election as a candidate of Bhartiya Panchayat Party;

(iv) Respondent No. 5 Devilal contested election as a candidate of Sapaks Party;

(v) Respondent No. 6 Raj Bai contested election as Mahanvadi Party;

(vi) Respondent No. 7 Lalliram contested election as Aam Aadmi Party;

(vii) Respondent No. 8 Shyam Shakya contested election as a member of socialist Unity Center of India (Communist);

(viii) Respondent No. 9 Jeevandas contested election as independent candidate;

(ix) Respondent No. 10 V. P. Singh contested election as independent candidate; and

(x) Respondent No. 11 is the returning officer Assembly Constituency No. 32 (SC) namely Ashok Nagar.

4. Constituency No. 32, Ashok Nagar, M. P. was reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. That, the present petitioner submitted his nomination as candidate for BJP on 5th and 6th November, 2018 and after scrutiny, the nomination was found proper and thus, petitioner was declared as one of the candidates for election of 2018 from the constituency No. 32 (S.C.) as a BJP candidate. The respondent No. 1 submitted his nomination paper from the constituency No. 32 as a candidate of INC.

5. That, the petitioner submitted his objection against nomination of respondent No. 1 as he was not the candidate belonging to the SC category and alleged that the respondent No. 1 has submitted his nomination form as a S.C. Candidate ‘NAT’. It was also submitted by petitioner that the respondent No. 1 belonged to Sikh Community. His parents were also Sikh.

6. It is further submitted in the petition that prior to the present election, the respondent No. l obtained a certificate being “Keer” Caste on 2-12-1999 which is within “other backward class” (hereinafter to be referred as “O.B.C.”). The respondent No. 1 also contested election on the post of Janpad Panchayat member in the year 1994 as a general candidate. In the year 1999, the respondent No. 1 contested election as O.B.C. candidate. The seat was reserved for O.B.C. In the year 2009, respondent No. 1 contested election on the post of President of Municipal Council, Ashok Nagar claiming to be of ‘NAT’ caste. In the year 2013 he contested election on the post of M.L.A. and lost the election. The respondent No. 1 contested election as a ‘Keer’ in 1999 which falls in OBC category.

7. It is further submitted