JUDGMENT :

The petitioner has filed the present application seeking leave of this Court to file replication in reply to the written statement of the respondent filed in the main petition alleging that he had perused the written statement filed by the respondent in the main Election Petition and has found false allegations in it, which, if not denied and/or clarified, shall cause prejudice to him. Hence, he seeks leave of this Court to file the replication.

2. Resisting the petition, the respondent filed objection stating that the petitioner had filed the Election Petition on 19.04.2017, which is after 39 days from the date of election. It is stated that the petitioner under the guise of his subsequent pIeading/replication is trying to amend his Election Petition in order to bring on record new pleadings and raise new grounds of challenge which were not raised in the Election Petition. If the prayer of the petitioner is allowed, it will amount to allowing him to change his pleading and raising new ground of challenge in contravention of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Hence, prayed for dismissal of the petition.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner su