Hegde, J. - (1.) This appeal under Sec. 116-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 is directed against the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissing the election petition filed by the Appellant on the ground that the same is barred by limitation.
(2.) The election petitioner is a voter in the Rewa Parliamentary constituency. The election with which we are concerned in this appeal was to the Parliament. That election was held on March 1, 1971. The counting was over on March 10, 1971. The same day the election results were announced. The respondent was declared elected. The election results were published in the official gazette on March 15, 1971. The election petition was filed on April 29, 1971.
(3.) Section 81 (1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, provides that an election petition calling in question any election may be presented on one or more of the grounds specified in sub-section (1) of Section 100 and Section 101 to the High Court by any candidate at such election or by any elector within fortyfive days from, but not earlier than, the date of election of the returned candidate, or if there are more than one returned candidate at the election and the dates of their election are different, the later of those two dates. Section 67-A says: " For the purposes of this Act, the date on which a candidate is declared by the returning officer under the provisions of Section 53 or Section 66, to be elected to a House of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State shall be the date of election of that candidate." Reading these two sections together it is clear that the election petition should have been filed within forty-five days from March 10, 1971. Hence, the petition filed by the appellant is clearly barred by limitation.;