- (1.) The election to the 13-Ferozepur Parliamentary Constituency was held in February, 1992. The petitioner lost the election to Mr. Mohan Singh, respondent No. 1 by a margin of 1296 votes. He has now questioned the election of the respondent through this election petition.
(2.) The petitioner avers that he was a candidate of the Congress (I) party. The polling took place on 19/02/1992, and the counting of the ballot papers was done on 20/02/1992. A total of 9 candidates has contested the election. The result was declared on 21/02/1992. The various candidates polled the votes as under:- 1. Sh. Santokh Singh 1,49,607 (Petitioner) Cong. (I) 2. Sh. Mohan Singh s/o Kansa Singh, BSP 1,50,903 3. Sh. Anish Kumar, Janta Dal 9,519 4. Sh. Surjit Kumar, BJP 92,401 5. Sh. Lakhmir Singh Sad (Kabul) 19,791 6. Sh. H. S. Bhullar, Independent 7,867 7. Sh. Daulat Ram, Independent 1,315 8. Sh. Nasib Singh, Independent 1,740 9. Sh. Mohan Singh s/o Iqbal Singh (Independent) 1,424 The petitioner avers that Mr. Nasib Singh, a former Congress man who "had remained as a Deputy Minister and Deputy Speaker in the Giani -ail Singh's Ministry from 1972-77 decided to withdraw the candidature from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat". He had given a notice of withdrawal dated 3/02/1992, to the Returning Officer. He had authorised his proposer Mr. Surinder Kumar to deliver the notice of withdrawal. The notice and the authorisation "were handwritten by Shri Nasib Singh himself and handed over to Mr. Surinder Kumar, proposer of Nasib Singh on 5-2-1992." These were delivered to Mr. Suresh Kumar, Returning Officer of the Ferozepur Parliamentary Constituency on 5-2-1992 which was the last date of withdrawal at 11.30 a.m. The Returning Officer raised an objection that the notice of withdrawal was not on the prescribed form and returned it to Mr. Surinder Kumar. Thereupon, Mr. Surinder Kumar took the printed withdrawal form, filled it and delivered it then and there to the Returning Officer at 12.10 a.m. "along with the application of withdrawal of Shri Nasib Singh and authorisation". The Returning Officer, however, declined the request of Mr. Nasib Singh in violation of law. Thereupon, Mr. Nasib Singh sent a registered notice "to the Chief Election Commissioner and Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, bringing to his notice the said act of the Returning Officer. The notice of withdrawal was in his handwriting and contained all necessary particulars as required under S.37 of the Representation of People Act. He also asked the Chief Electoral Commissioner to delete his name from the list of contesting candidates. "Mr. Nasib Singh did not campaign or canvass and in the return submitted by him only an expenditure of Rs. 501.00- was shown. Out of this Re. 1/- had been spent on the nomination papers and Rs. 500.00 had been deposited as security. According to the petitioner, Mr. Nasib Singh had polled 1740 votes. If the request of Mr. Nasib Singh for withdrawal of candidature had been accepted, these 1740 votes would have been polled in favour of the petitioner and the result of election was thus materially affected due to the improper acceptance of his nomination paper.
(3.) The petitioner also avers that the Fazilka Assembly Constituency is a part of the 13-Ferozepur Parliamentary Constituency. The counting of votes for the Fazilka Segment of the 13-Ferozepur Parliamentary Constituency and the Fazilka Assembly Constituency was held at the Block Development Office, Fazilka. Mr. Mangat Ram Aggarwal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate was the Returning Officer for the Assembly Constituency and the Assistant Returning Officer for the Parliamentary Constituency. After the second round of counting, the (Asstt.) Returning Officer stopped conveying the round-wise position of votes to the Returning Officer. The petitioner avers that he was sitting in the office of the Returning Officer and asked him about the result from the Fazilka segment. He was informed "that there was a dispute over 1000 votes". His son Mr. Inderjit Singh got a telephonic call from Mr. Rajinder Singh Brar, who informed him that "during counting a thousand votes have been found in excess of the votes actually polled and the objection was raised by him (Rajinder Singh Brar) before Shri Mangat Ram Aggarwal and requested to stop the counting till total of votes tallied. Assistant Returning Officer did not pay any heed to the request. Then Inderjit Singh informed these facts to the petitioner. Thereupon, Mr. Gurjeet Singh, election agent of the petitioner went to Fazilka to find out the exact situation. He reached the place of counting at about 2.00 a.m. on 21/02/1992. There, Mr. Rajinder Singh Brar met him and conveyed that the number of votes taken out from the ballot boxes did not tally with those actually polled. Mr. Brar and other counting agents also complained that the distance between "sitting arrangement and the counting tables and barricade was about 6 feet. By standing at barricade the counting agents could not see and watch the ballot papers properly". Shri Gurjeet Singh moved an application to the Assistant Returning Officer that these votes should not be counted but he refused to entertain the application. These 1000 votes remained in excess till the counting was completed. The Assistant Returning Officer, without ascertaining in whose favour these votes purported to have been polled "mixed with the other ballot papers and counted them." After spending about 11/2 hours at the B.D.O. Office, Fazilka, Mr. Gurjeet Singh left for Ferozepur "to bring this fact to the notice of the petitioner". Thereupon, the petitioner gave telegrams and phoned Shri B. C. Gupta, Commissioner, Ferozpur. He gave a ring to the Chief Election Commissioner, New Delhi which was attended by Shri D. S. Bagga, Deputy Chief Election Commissioner from his Election Office. He was assured that the matter will be looked into. The petitioner also gave a ring to Shri R. C. Sharma, Joint Electoral Officer, Punjab. In spite of the assurance, no action was initiated. Then the petitioner asked one of his workers to write an application to the Returning Officer. It was signed and submitted by the petitioner to Shri Suresh Kumar, the Returning Officer at his office, who illegally rejected it. The petitioner also gave representation to Mr. Joshi, Central Observer in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner. He also sent telegrams to the Chief Election Commissioner, New Delhi at about 7.15 a.m. on 21/02/1992, from Ferozenur.;