Sushil Kumar Vs State of UP and Ors.
BENCH-
Hon’ble Justice Siddhartha Varma
FACTS OF THE CASE-
After an election regarding the post of Pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Kehlikhurd, Block Sidhpura, District Kasganj whose results were declared on 13.12.2015, the respondent no 3, Om Kar challenged the petition through Election Petition No. 1037 of 2016 as the petitioner won by one vote. The Court concluded from issue no 1 and 2 that recounting of ballot papers were essential. The Petitioner is aggrieved by the order filed an instant writ petition after his Revision was dismissed on 29.11.2018. Paragraph 1 and 14 of the Election Petition shows that the petitioner was aggrieved by the presence of the three people namely Amar Pal Singh who was present at the counting table no. 7, 8 and 9 without any authority, Devendra Singh son of Constable in PAC and Ram Kumar was also present and influencing the counting process. The Learned Counsel also stated that nothing contained in paragraph nos. 13 and 14 indicated any fact which showed recounting was essential thus the petitioner submitted that the election should be declared bad on the basis of the presence of unauthorized individuals rather than recounting the ballot paper. On the basis of the judgment of Ran Adhar Singh Vs The District Judge, Ghazipur & Ors, the Learned Counsel submitted that without an adequate statement of material facts and evidence in support, no recounting process should take place.
ISSUE –
Was recounting a legit solution?
JUDGMENT-
After hearing both the learned counsel the Court decided that recounting of the ballot papers is only possible if there is enough statement of material facts and evidence in support of the winning candidate getting ballot papers in his favor when the vote was not. Since the winning candidate won by a single vote, it cannot be considered to be a reason to order recounting of the ballot papers. The presence of unauthorized persons is not an adequate reason to recount the ballot papers. the Court said the reasons stated by the Respondent can be a ground for setting aside the election but not recount.
Judgment Link- http://elegalix.allahabadhighcourt.in/elegalix/WebShowJudgment.do
