- (1.) These two appeals have been heard together as they raise some common questions of law and fact, and this judgement will govern them both.
(2.) The appellant before us, Murarka Radhey Shyam Ram Kumar, was elected to the House of the People at the third general elections held in the month of February, 1962. He was elected from a constituency known as the Jhunjhunu Parliamentary Constituency in Rajasthan. Two election petitions were filed for setting aside the election of the appellant. One of these was filed by one Ridmal Singh who stated that he was an elector in the said constituency. Another application was filed by one Balji who was also an elector in the said Parliamentary Constituency and whose nomination paper was rejected by the returning officer. We are not concerned in the present appeals with the grounds on which the two election petitions, one by Ridmal Singh and numbered as 269 of 1962 and the other by Balji and numbered as 295 of 1962, were based, because the election petitions have not yet been tried on merits. By two applications dated July 6, 1962, the appellant who was one of the respondent to the two election petitions raised certain preliminary objections to the maintainability of the two election petitions. The Election Tribunal dealt with these preliminary objection by its orders dated August 13, 1962. It dismissed the preliminary objections. Thereupon the appellant filed two writ petitions in the High Court of Rajasthan by which he prayed that the orders of the election Tribunal dated August 13, 1962 and certain consequential orders passed on "August 14, 1962 be quashed and that an order or direction be issued to the Election Tribunal to dismiss the two election petitions on the main ground that they do not comply with certain mandatory provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, hereinafter referred to as the Act. These two writ petitions were dismissed by the High Court by its order dated August 31, 1962. The appellant then applied for special leave to this court and having obtained such leave, has preferred the present appeals.
(3.) We may now state briefly the grounds on which the appellant contends that the two election petitions were not maintainable and should have been dismissed by the election Tribunal. With regard to Election Petition No. 269 of 1962 the grounds urged before us on behalf of the appellant are three in number. Firstly ,it is contended that there was noncompliance with the mandatory provisions of S. 82 of the Act. We shall presently read that section. The contention of the appellant is that Ballu or Balji whose nomination paper was rejected and who was not a contesting candidate was improperly impleaded as respondent No. 7 to the election petition, though S. 82 requires that in cases where in addition to the relief of declaring the election of the returned candidate to be void, a further declaration is claimed that the petitioner himself or some other candidate has been duly elected, all the contesting candidates must be made parties to the election petition. Ballu or Balji was not a contesting candidate and was therefore impleaded to the election petition in contravention of the provisions or S. 82. Secondly, it is urged that there was non-compliance with the provisions of S. 81 (3) of the Act because the copy of the election petition served on the appellant was not a true copy of the original filed before the Election Commission nor was it properly attested to be a true copy under the signature of the petitioner who filed the election petition. Thirdly, it is urged that there was non-compliance with the provisions of S. 83 of the Act inasmuch as the affidavit in respect of corrupt practices which accompanied the election petition was neither properly made nor in the prescribed form.;