- (1.) THIS election petition has been filed by Hari Shanker Tripathi, one of the ten candidates for the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from Basti cum Gorakhpur Local Authority Constituency, praying that it be declared that the election of respondent No. 1 was void and that actually the petitioner received the majority of valid votes and, therefore, he be declared to have been duly elected.
(2.) KEEPING in view the allegations made by the parties, 20 issues were framed. Issue No. 8 being "whether the election petition has been properly presented and is within time?" was taken up as a preliminary issue and the learned counsel for the parties were heard at length. As laid down in Section 81 (1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) an election petition has to be presented to the High Court within 45 days from the date of election of the returned candidate. It was conceded by the parties that a High Court has powers to frame rules relating to the presentation and trial of election petitions. The Allahabad High Court has framed rules or special provisions relating to the trial of election petitions embodied in Chapter XV-A of the Rules of Court, Vol. I. Rule 3 of Chapter XV-A lays down "Every election petition shall be presented to the Registrar....."
(3.) THE relevant facts are that after counting of votes respondent No. 1 was declared to have been elected by the Returning Officer on 30th April, 1974. In view of the provisions quoted above, the election petition should have been presented to the Registrar of the High Court within 45 days from 30- 4-1974. Therefore, the period of limitation expired on the 14th June, 1974. The High Court had its vacation in 1974 from the 25th of May to the 7th of July, both days inclusive. The petition was presented by the Petitioner to the Registrar on the 8th July, 1974, which was the first working day after the vacation. So the question which arises is whether the election petition would be deemed to have been presented within the period of limitation, because the limitation of 45 days expired during the High Court vacation and the petition was presented on the first working day after the vacation. Observations made by the Supreme Court in Hukumdev Narain Yadav v. Lalit Narain (AIR 1974 SC 480) afford almost a complete answer.;