- (1.) This election petition has been filed by a defeated candidate u/S. 100(1)(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), challenging the election of the respondent to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha from 78-Amloh Assembly Constituency on the sole ground that the nomination papers of one Jit Singh had been improperly rejected.
(2.) General Elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly were held in February, 1992. It is common case of the parties that Amloh Constituency No. 78 was a seat reserved for the scheduled castes of the State of Punjab and that the programme notified for the said elections was as under :- (i) Date up to which nomination could be filed. 2-2-1992 (ii) Date of scrutiny of nomination 3-2-1992 (iii) Last date for the withdrawal of candidatures and allotment of symbols. 5-2-1992 (iv) Date of poll, if necessary. 19-2-1992 (v) Counting of votes was to be taken up on : 20-2-1992 Petitioner filed his nomination papers within the specified period and was a candidate of the Shromani Akali Dal (Kabul). He is stated to have filed three nomination papers which were found valid by the returning officer at the time of scrutiny and was allotted 'Scales' as his election symbol which was reserved for his party. Sadhu Singh, respondent, also filed his nomination papers as a candidate of the Indian National Congress Party and was allotted 'Hand' as his election symbol which stood reserved for his party. One Jit Singh resident of H. No. 154, Ram Nagar Gali, Patiala also filed his nomination papers claiming to be a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party. At the time of scrutiny on 3-2-1992, his nomination paper was rejected as according to the returning officer it could not be shown to him that he (Jit Singh) belonged to any scheduled caste and even though at the time of filing the nomination paper he was asked to produce a scheduled caste certificate, he neither appeared in person nor any auth- orised person turned up on his behalf at the time of scrutiny. Polling was held on Feb. 19, 1992 and after the counting of votes was over, Sadhu Singh respondent was declared elected as he polled larger number of votes than all the other candidates, including the petitioner. It is this election which has been impugned in the present petition on the solitary ground that the nomination papers of Jit Singh were improperly rejected by the returning officer.
(3.) In the written statement filed on behalf of the respondent, it has been admitted that Jit Singh filed his nomination papers as a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party which according to the respondent were validly rejected. It has also been averred that Jit Singh failed to mention in the declaration as given in the nomination paper the particular caste to which he belonged and also the area in relation to which that caste was a scheduled caste of the State of Punjab. It is the case of the respondent that the declaration furnished by Jit Singh was not valid in law and that no document/certificate was attached with the nomination paper showing the caste to which he belonged. A certified copy of the nomination paper as also the order of the returning officer dt. Feb. 3, 1992 rejecting the same were attached with the written statement.;