Ballot Representation of the People Act, 1951, S. 59 & Conduct of ‘Election Rules, Rule 49 Mr. Jethmalani argued that the word ‘ballot’ is wide enough to include the mechanical process and, therefore, the direction of the Commission falls squarely within the four corners of both S. 59 and Rule 49. Reliance was placed on the dictionary meaning of the word ‘ballot’ which has been defined in Black’s Law Dictionary (Fourth Edn.) at page 182 thus : Means act of voting, usually in secret, by balls or by written or printed tickets or slips of paper ; the system of voting by balls or tickets, or by any device for casting or recording votes, as by voting machine. In Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary (Third Edn.), however, ‘ballot’ means “votes recorded ¾ all ballot papers put into the ballot boxes by the electors (p. 3239)”. Stroud therefore, does not subscribe to the view of casting of vote through a voting machine and we agree with this view because casting of votes by machine is a mechanical process, which has come into existence long after the Act was passed and is not generally invoked in most of the democratic countries of the world. Concise Oxford Dictionary defines the word “ballot” thus : (usu, secret) voting ; small ball, ticket or paper used in voting ; votes so recorded ; lot drawing. In Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Vol. I) at page 168 ‘ballot’ is defined thus : To obtain a vote from (a body or voters) (the men on the proposal), to select by ballot or by the drawing of lots. The word ‘ballot’ has been derived form the word ‘ballota’ which existed at a time when there was no question of any system of voting machine. Even in 1951 when the Act was passed or the Rules were made, the system of voting by machine was not in vogue in this country. In these circumstances, therefore, we are constrained to hold that the word ‘ballot’ in its strict sense would not include voting by the use of voting machines. Legislatures must be deemed to be aware of the modern tendencies in various democratic countries of the world where the mechanical system has been introduced and if despite the plain meaning of the word ‘ballot’ they did not choose to extend the definition given as far back as 1950, it may be safely presumed that the Parliament intended to use the word ‘ballot’ in its popular rather than a technical sense. Our view finds a good deal of support from the circumstance that even though the system of voting by mechanical process was submitted to the Government for approval yet the same was declined which shows that the rule-making authority was not prepared to switch over to the system of voting by machines, perhaps on account of the legal bar as indicarted by us. (A.C. Jose v. Sivan Pillai, (1984) 2 SCC 656 (670,671)