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PETITIONER:

SHYAMDEO PD. SINGH

Vs.

RESPONDENT:

NAWAL KISHORE YADAV

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 28/08/2000

BENCH:

CJI , R.C. Lahoti & K.G. Balakrishnan

JUDGMENT:

R.C. Lahoti, J.

L...I...T.......T.......T.......T.......T.......T.......T..J

Pursuant to a Notification issued by the Governor of

Bihar under Section 16 of the Representation of the People

Act, 1951 (hereinafter the 1951 Act, for short), biennial

elections to the Bihar Legislative Council from the Patna

Teachers Constituency were held in April, 1996. There were

four candidates in the fray including Nawal Kishore Yadav,

the respondent, who defeated his nearest rival candidate Dr.

P.N. Sharma by a margin of 870 votes. Polling was held on

28.4.1996 whereat the respondent secured 3414 votes as

against 2544 votes secured by Dr. P.N. Sharma. The

respondent was declared elected.

On 24.4.1996 the appellant, an elector duly enrolled in

the electoral list of the constituency filed an election

petition under Section 80 of the 1951 Act calling in

question the election of the respondent. The only ground

alleged in support of prayer for avoiding the election of

the respondent was the registration and enrolment of a large

number of ineligible persons as electors in the electoral

roll and consequently improper reception of votes cast by

such illegal electors which had resulted in materially

affecting the result of the election insofar as the returned

candidate was concerned. The bundle of facts constituting

the cause of action as alleged by the appellant are briefly

stated in the succeeding paragraph.

On 22.10.1986 the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar in

exercise of the powers conferred by Section 27 (3)(b) of the

Representation of the People Act, 1950 (hereinafter the 1950

Act, for short) issued a notification No.1248 publishing a

list of educational institutions of the State which shall be

deemed to be not lower in standard than that of a secondary

school. On 29.9.1995 a notice under Rule 31(3) of the

Electors Registration Rules, 1960 was published by the Chief

Electoral Officer, Bihar calling upon all eligible voters

who wished to get their names entered in the electoral roll

to apply in Form 19 on or before 6.11.1995. All persons who

are citizens of India and are ordinarily residents of the

constituency and engaged in teaching work for not less than

three years during the preceding six years calculated from

1.11.1995 in an educational institution not lower in

standard than that of a secondary school were eligible for

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enrolment as electors in the electoral roll. According to

the election petitioner the authorities entrusted with the

task of preparing the electoral roll included the names of

many a voters in the electoral roll who were not at all

eligible for being so included as they were teaching in the

educational institutions which were neither permitted to be

established nor affiliated nor recognised by the State

Government which was mandatorily required under the

provisions of The Bihar Intermediate Education Council Act,

1992. On 26.12.1995 Dr. P.N. Sharma, the then member of

Legislative Council from Patna Teachers Constituency, filed

objections to the inclusion of the names of such ineligible

persons in the electoral roll seeking deleting of their

names. In spite of repeated persuasions made by Dr. P.N.

Sharma, the authorities did not hear and decide the

objections and in the meantime the Governor of Bihar, as

recommended by the Election Commission of India, issued

notification dated 26.3.1996 fixing the schedule of election

programme. On or about 1.3.1996, objections were also

preferred by one Dr. Ram Padmadeo seeking deletion of the

names of 1625 ineligible el