Kuldip Singh, J. - (1.) We pronounced our conclusions in this appeal on January 23, 1990 in the following terms:-"After hearing the arguments we reserved judgment in this election appeal. The Election Commission has announced fresh elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly. There is thus an urgency to announce the judgment. For the reasons to be recorded later on we allow the appeal with costs and set aside the order of the High Court dated March 30, 1988 ordering recount and allowing inspection of ballot papers. As a consequence the order of the High Court dated December 6, 1988 declaring the election of the appellant to Tundi Assembly Constituency as void and declaring respondent Uday Kumar Singh as duly elected is also set aside. The election petition filed by Shri Udai Kumar Singh challenging the election of the appellant Shri Satyanarain Dudhani is dismissed with costs. We quantify the costs as Rs. 7000/-".
(2.) We now proceed to give our reasons for the conclusions quoted above.
(3.) The appellant contested election to the Bihar Assembly Constituency from Tundi Constituency. He was declared elected on March 7, 1985 by defeating his nearest rival Uday Kumar Singh by a narrow margin of 24 votes. Uday Kumar Singh challenged the election of the appellant by way of an election petition on the sole ground that the counting of the votes was done illegally and against law.;