ORDER

This petition under Section 80 and 81of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 (for short “the R.P.Act”) has been filed by defeated candidate with the symbol of hand (Panja) calling in question the election of Shri Rakesh Giri (respondent No.1) a returned candidate with the symbol of Lotus (Kamal) from constituency No.43, Tikamgarh in the general election for Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly held in the year 2018.

2. It is not disputed that in the general election, 2018 for Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 17 candidates including respondent No.1 Rakesh Giri- the official candidate of Bhartiya Janata Party and Shri Yadvendra Singh- official candidate of Indian National Congress were in the fray. The polling was held on 28.11.2018. Counting of votes took place on 11.12.2018 and on the same day result was declared in which Shri Rakesh Giri/respondent No.1 secured 66958 valid votes and he was declared returned candidate. His nearest contestant Shri Yadvendra Singh “Jaggu Bhaiya”/petitioner secured 62783 votes.

3. The petitioner Yadvendra Singh “Jaggu Bhaiya” has challenged the election of respondent No.1 alleging that during his election campaign, he was indulged in corrupt practice within the meaning of section 123(1)(A) (b) of the Act which constitute under Section 100(1)(b) and 100(1)(d)(iv) of the Act for declaring his election to be void. As many as five incidents of corrupt practice and one incident of non-publishing of criminal antecedent in the News paper as per circular dated 10.10.2018 by Election Commission of India have been alleged in various paragraphs of the petition which are summarized as under :-

(A) That wife of respondent No.1 was/ is holding the post of President of the Municipal Council, Tikamgarh and, therefore, respondent No.1 had deployed the entire machinery and employees of the Municipal Council to facilitate in his election as about 150 daily wages employees were deployed for canvassing in favour of respondent No.1 at the dictate of respondent No.1 and his wife. One Raviraj Gautam S/o Ramashankar Singh R/o of Chhatrasal Colony, Tikamgarh on 06.11.2018 and 09.11.2018 at about 2 P.M. had been asked by Pradeep Rajak, Abhishek Giri and Gajendra Giri Goswami, employees of the Municipal Council, Tikamgarh to cast his vote in favour of respondent No.1. The aforesaid government employees were assigned election duty by order dated 5.10.2018 of the Municipal Council, Tikamgarh. The petitioner had filed complaints (Annexures A-8 and A-9) on 11.11.2018 and 15.11.2018 with the Election Commission of India narrating the illegal act of respondent No.1 and his wife. Cognizance of the complaint was taken by the Election Commission and all the Municipal employees who were deployed for the purpose of canvassing in favour of respondent No.1, were removed from duty by the Municipal Council, Tikamgarh. The order dated 16.11.2018 is Annexure A-10 and A-11.

(B) The respondent No.1 indulged himself in funneling cash, other gifts/ handouts and liquor to the voters through his influential local supporters. Agents of respondent No.1, on his dictate and with his consent, bribed voters by giving them cash and other articles like Kambal and Sarees obtaining a promise to vote for Bhartiya Janta Party. On the dictate of respondent No.1 and with his consent, his agent namely Gajendra Giri Goswami came in a TATA Safari SUV and distributed Kambal and Saree at Village Patha, District Tikamgarh on 26.11.2018 between 7 PM to 8 PM to Rajesh Kumar Rai S/o Jairam Rai R/o village Patha and asked to vote in favour of respondent No.1 by pressing the button of Lotus in the EVM. The incident was witnessed by Kamal SinghS/o Babu Raja Thakur, R/o village Jatouwa Khass Patha and Rahul Mishra S/o Late Shri Rajendra Kumar Mishra. The incident of distributing Kambal and Sarees was videographed by Kamal Singh through his Mobile Vivo 07 Plus number 8120051010 (IMEI 1:- 866066036156838, IMEI 2:- 866066036156820. The incident was immediately informed