TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1993 (11) TMI 243
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....er referred to as "the R.P. Act") are against the judgment dated 30th March, 1993 in Election Petition No. 2 of 1991 E.V. Alia Balasaheb Vikhe Patil v. Gadakh Yashwantrao Kankarrao and Ors. passed by A.A. Halbe, J. of the Bombay High Court at the Aurangabad Bench. By the impugned judgment, the election of Gadakh Yashwantrao Kankarrao as a member of the Lok Sabha from 39 Ahmednagar Parliamentary constituency held in June 1991 has been set aside for commission of the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act; and E.V. Alias Balasaheb Vikhe Patil has been declared elected. Civil Appeal No. 2115 of 1993 is by Gadakh Yashwantrao Kankarrao (Gadakh) against declaration of his election to be void and the further declaration of E.V. alias Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (Vikhe Patil) to have been duly elected. Civil Appeal No. 2116 of 1993 is by Deshmukh Bhagwan Rangnath (Respondent No. 5 in the Election Petition) against declaration of Vikhe Patil to have been duly elected. Similarly Civil Appeal No. 2444 of 1993 is by Najan Rambhau Maruti (Respondent No. 6 in the Election Petition) against declaration of Vikhe Patil to have been duly elected. Civil Appeal No. 1758 of 1993 is by Sharad C....
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....conduct of Vikhe Patil attributing the use of corrupt methods by him, with a view to prejudice the prospects of Vikhe Patil's election, in meetings held by him at Sonai on 30th April, 1991, Ahmednagar on 2nd May, 1991, Newasa on 3rd May, 1991 and in an interview given to a journalist on 10th May, 1991 which was published in the daily newspaper "Maharashtra Times" on 13th May, 1991. It was also alleged by Vikhe Patil that in the public meeting held at Newasa on 3rd May, 1991 and at Srigonda on 11th May, 1991, Sharad Pawar, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra had made similar statements relating to the personal character of Vikhe Patil, in the presence of and along with Gadakh. It was alleged by Vikhe Patil that these statements relating to the personal character of Vikhe Patil made by Gadakh and Sharad Pawar amounted to corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act on account of which Gadakh's election was void and Sharad Pawar was liable to be named in accordance with Section 99 of the R.P. Act. After the evidence was recorded at the trial and Gadakh had also been examined on commission on account of his illness, the High Court Issued a notice under Section 99 of....
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....uffice it to say that they would certainly touch upon the personal character and conduct of the petitioners. 6. It is these conclusions and reliefs granted on by basis which are challenged by the returned candidate Gadakh and the notice Sharad Pawar, while respondent No. 5 Deshmukh Bhagwan Rangnath and respondent No. 6 Najan Rambhau Maruti have challenged merely the further declaration of Vikhe Patil to have been duly elected, in their appeals. 7. At this stage, a gist of the alleged false statements relating to the personal character of Vikhe Patil attributed to Gadakh and Sharad Pawar may be mentioned while the details thereof would be stated later at the time of considering each of them separately. It has been alleged by Vikhe Patil that Gadakh attributed to him the resort of corrupt methods for winning the election in his statements by stating the Vikhe Patil had a huge election budget of Rs. 3 crores; that Vikhe Patil had paid Rs. 50 lakhs to the election fund of Janata Dal; that Rs. 20 lakhs were by him to the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse Patil to shift to another constituency; that he was to distribute 5000 bicycles to the participants in a bicycle rally to be taken....
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.... of Rs. 5,000 to the petitioner. (iv) Registrar to take action under Section 103 of the Representation of People Act and forward the copy of the notice under Section 99 of the Representation of People Act and the judgment and order in this Election Petition to the Election Commissioner and also to the Speaker or the Chairman of the House of Parliament or the State Legislature, as may be found necessary. (v) The petitioner E.V. @ Balasaheb Vikhe Patil is declared as a candidate duly elected from the above parliamentary constituency. (vi) Petitioner be refunded his security deposit. 9. In these matters, Shri Ashok Desai appeared for Gadakh; Shri K. Parasaran for Sharad Pawur; Shri V.N. Ghanpule for Deshmukh Bhagwan Rangnath (respondent No. 5 in the election petition); and Shri Ram Jethmalani for Najan, Rambhau Maruti (respondent No. 6 in the election petition). In substance, the contention of Shri Ashok Desai was that Gadakh did not make any of the statements attributed to him and at any rate none of those statements amounts to the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act. Shri K. Parasaran contended that the statements attributed to Sharad ....
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....ted to Gadakh and Pawar alleged to constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) are mixed up but the relevant portions in the election petition are as under: On 30th April, 1991, the first respondent had addressed a meeting at village Sonai.... Further he made a statement that the Petitioner had paid 20 lakhs of rupees for the candidate who was selected by Janata Dal Party for the Ahmednagar constituency to contest the election from Beed constituency. Respondent No. 1 further alleged that the Petitioner was going to spend Rs. 3 crores for Petitioner's election. Respondent No. 1 also alleged that Petitioner has declared rate of Rs. 25,000 for defecting worker of village level and Rs. 50,000 for worker of Tahsil.... The petitioner states that the statements made by the first respondent that petitioner paid Rs. 20 lakhs to the candidate of Janata Dal to withdraw from Ahmednagar Parliamentary constituency is false is known to first respondent as false and such a statement is relating to personal character and conduct of the petitioner the statement is false and also related to the candidate. This Statement was made by the first respondent believing it to b....
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.... false impression that the poor men from famine affected area of South Nagar District can be purchased. Poor persons do not go here or there for money. Don't take test of self respect of those (poor men). Institutions have been erected by taking advantage of party. Voter can't be purchased by that money. Shri Pawar advised the voters that if the wealth is being distributed take the wealth but vote for Congress. Statement were repeated to the effect that the Petitioner was distributing bicycles and pairs of dhoties, and sarees, among voters in the constituency.... The Petitioner states that these statements were false. The first respondent and Shri Sharad Pawar were knowing that these statements were false. Shri sharad Pawar Knew well that these statements reflected on the personal character of the Petitioner. The petitioner was being painted by the first respondent and Shri Sharad Pawar, that the petitioner would do anything to get elected by use of his money. The Petitioner states that the first respondent gave an interview to Shri Girish Kulkarni representative of Maharashtra Times. The said interview has been published in the Maharashtra Times dated 13t....
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.... is contesting the election with their support had left his party and came here thinking that this is a soft (electorate). I am not worried about the Bhartiya Janata Party candidate in this constituency because he is going to loose. He too is aware of this. The question is different while what to do about this adoptive candidate who was raised by the Congress made a member of Parliament for five times, and office bearer of the Zilla Parishad. On one occasion when he was asked to wait a little, he grew impatient and began searching. He filled up (nomination) forms in Kopergaon and in Nagar. He adopted a stand of interest parties while to rebel in South constituency. But while performing that role he saw that he could not get an opportunity in the north. So the idea entered his mind that this South constituency being a famine prone region and the people there being poor he could pocket them. So he started activating in this path with a view to take over Maharashtra from here and win the election by the efforts of interested parties by playing game of purchasing your self respect. We must face it and defeat such activity. That is the task to be done in this election. At some time or o....
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....e presence of the first respondent amount to corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the Representation of People Act 1951. These statements are even published in the widely circulated news papers which are produced at Exhibit A to K. The statements amounted to an allegation that the Petitioner was ready to buy the voters by offering bribes, to them. The Petitioner states that bribing itself is a corrupt practice and it it is said against a candidate that he practices the corrupt practice of buying the votes by means of bribery and clearly and unequivocally constitutes an attack on the private character. The Petitioner states that the statements of the first respondent and Shri Sharad Pawar as reported above were totally false. He believed that the statements were false and the statements were made calculated to prejudice the election prospects of the Petitioner. 12. Recording of the evidence at the trial of the election petition was concluded on 4th September 1992 when the statement of Gadakh was recorded on commission. The High Court an order on 18th September, 1992 directing Issuance of a notice to Sharad Power under Section 99 of the R.P. Act pursuant to which the ....
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....ould come to realise after the election of 23rd at the time of counting of votes scheduled on 26th... They will distribute bicycles, distribute dhoties and sarees. He told you to accept them. I do not have any objection... Balasaheb has become one of them. And in celebration of that occasion, if the wealth is being distributed into this constituency, there should be no hesitation in getting benefited. Complete the renovations, if a bicycle is coming, let it be accepted. The symbol should be always in our hands. We should not worry ourselves about everything. May be there should be generous attitude behind the distribution of wealth in the shape of decentralisation. Let us welcome it. Let them do at the place and so far diverting the votes on the strength of money, let it be dear to whole of Maharashtra that voters cannot be bought.... Efforts are being made, to corrupt the people, attempts being made to put on the pressure. There will be an attempt to distribution and notwithstanding anything done as above.... And side by side, it this district, here is a fight between morality and honesty from one side and money resources and a tendency guided b....
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....on of Shri Ashok Desai was that the making of these statements or at least the disparaging thereof by Gadakh is not proved by any acceptable evidence and at any rate all the requirements of Section 123(4) are not proved to hold that the corrupt practice was committed by Gadakh. Shri Parasaran contended that the statements attributed to Sharad Pawar have not been duly proved and, therefore, the question of any rebuttal by Sharad Pawar does not arise; and even if the alleged statements are proved to have been made by Sharad Pawar, all the requirements of Section 123(4) have not been made out to justify naming him under Section 99 of the Act. Shri Ram Jethmalani supported the submissions of Shri Ashok Desai and Shri Parasaran. It was submitted by these learned Counsel that the charge of commission of a corrupt practice being of a quasi-criminal nature, the standard of proof applicable is of a criminal charge and not merely that of preponderance of probabilities of a civil case. It was further submitted that the statements which were made by Gadakh and Sharad Pawar were only to caution the electorate against possible misuse of money power and to exhort them to succumb to any such press....
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....e legislative effort to achieve the avowed object of purity of elections. We would also like to observe that the suggestion of a liberal construction of the election law relating to corrupt practices by appreciation of evidence in the manner suggested in the existing political climate wherein mud-slinging' is common place, does not commend to us as the proper approach envisaged by the election law. If purity of election is the essence of democracy and providing for invalidation of an election on the ground of commission of any corrupt practice is the object of enacting these provisions, it cannot be accepted that the election scene having degenerated over the years, appreciation of evidence for determining the commission of a corrupt practice must be made liberally because of the lower values in the arena of elections. If the rule of law has to be preserved as the essence of the democracy of which purity of elections is a necessary concomitant, it is the duty of the courts to appreciate the evidence and construe the law in a manner which would subserve this higher purpose and not even imperceptibly facilitate acceptance, much less affirmance, of the falling electoral standards.....
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.... reality, 17. We are constrained to make these observation on account of the repeated reference made at the hearing to the growing malpractices during elections, even though it was made for the purpose of persuading us not to attach any significance to statements relating to the personal character of conduct of a candidate since they are not taken seriously by the voters due to the falling ethical standard. 18. Real education of the electorate contemplates informing them of the past achievements and future plans of the political party on a positive note and its candidate's qualifications to serve that purpose compared with those of the other political parties and their candidates and not a projection of the comparative greater demerits of the opponents. This is with a view to emphasise that the functioning of the democracy depends on the quality of the men chosen for the governance of the country. This is the need which the election campaign is meant to serve in an election based on party lines, the qualifications of the candidates being material for this purpose. 19. The duty at the top echelons of leadership at the state and national level of all political parties is....
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....nable to subscribe to this view which can only lead to a further degeneration of the waning morality in the electoral scene, when the felt need is for curbing any such tendency to ensure purity of elections. 23. The question therefore, is : Whether in the law as it exists, all or any of the statements proved to has been made by Gadakh or Sharad Pawar constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act? CORRUPT PRACTICE UNDER SECTION 123(4) OF THE R.P. ACT 24. Several authorities were cited to emphasise the strictness of pleadings in election petitions and the pleadings necessary to raise a triable issue of the corrupt practice under Section 123(4). It is not necessary to deal with all the authorities cited since in the present case even assuming there is no such defect in the election petition, many statements attributed to Gadakh and all the statements attributed to Sharad Pawar do not constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act. The cases on which particular emphasis was laid by Shri Ashok Desai on behalf of Gadakh are alone referred briefly. In Samant N. Balakrishna etc. v. George Fernandez and Ors. etc. [1969]3SCR603 , it was h....
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....ably establish that the alleged corrupt practice was committed by the returned candidate. It was also emphasised that preponderance of probabilities is not sufficient proof in such a matter. 28. The requirements of Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act may now be considered. The provision is as under: 123. Corrupt practices. The following shall be deemed to be corrupt practices for the purposes of this Act: xxxx xxxx xxxx (4) The publication by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent, of any statement of fact which is false, and which he either believes to be false for does not believe to be true, in relation to the personal character or conduct of any candidate, or in relation to the candidature, or withdrawal, of any candidate, being a statement reasonably calculated to prejudice the prospects of that candidate's election. 29. It is clear that every statement of fact in relation to the personal character or conduct of any candidate does not amount to a corrupt practice under Section 123(4) unless all the requirements of the provision are satisfied, notwithstanding the fact that such a stat....
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....f belief of the maker being primarily related to the state of mind of the maker, the initial burden is discharged by an assertion on oath to that effect. If there be any circumstances relevant for proving and justifying the belief of the maker, that also would be a matter of evidence. The maker of the statement knows best the material on which his belief was formed and, therefore, it is for him to prove the same. Whether the maker of the statement believed it to be false or did not believe it to be true, is then ordinarily a matter of inference from the facts so proved. 32. The meaning of the expression "statement of fact" was a point of considerable debate at the Bar. The true meaning of this expression is of significance because several statements attributed to Gadakh and Sharad Pawar relate to apprehensions about Vikhe Patil's likely future conduct and not to his acts done in the past or at the time of making the statements. It was contended by Shri Ashok Desai for Gadakh and Shri K. Parasaran for Sharad Pawar that every statements is not a 'statement of fact' and , therefore, a statement made about future apprehension or opinion of the maker, does not fall within....
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.... likelihood in future, would not come within the ambit of the expression "statement of fact" used in Section 123(4). This is also supported by the fact that another requirement of Section 123(4) is that the statement of fact made should be 'reasonably calculated to prejudice the prospects of that candidate's election. This further requirement cannot be satisfied by merely stating a likely apprehension for the future and if the event does not happen, this requirement cannot be tested. It is a different matter if the statement amounts to an opinion relating to the personal character or conduct of any candidate which is based on existing or past acts of the candidate. In other words, if the statement made is that a candidate is a 'murderer', that would imply that he had committed a murder and that amounts to a 'statement of fact' . for the purpose of Section 123(4). 35. The view we have taken finds support from the meaning of fact' in the realm of jurisprudence. Relevant extracts from textbooks are as under: There is yet a third meaning of the expression "question or matter of fact" in which it is contrasted with a question or matter of opinion.....
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....ise. The question whether the statement was reasonably calculated to prejudice the prospects of the election of the candidate against whom it was made would generally be a matter of inference. So the main onus on an election petitioner under Section 123(4) is to show that a statement of fact was published by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of the candidate or his election agent and also to show that that statement was false and related to his personal character or conduct. Once that is proved and the complaining candidate has sworn as above indicated, the burden shifts to the candidate making the false statement of fact to show what his belief was. The further question as to prejudice to the prospects of election is generally a matter of inference to be arrived at by the tribunal on the facts and circumstances of each case. (at page 136) (emphasis supplied) 38. This decision summarises the extent of onus on the election petitioner and the manner in which it is discharged indicating that some of the requirements of Section 123(4) are matters of inference. This is the gist of the law on the point and is reiterated in the subsequen....
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....bery and it was not simply a statement of the maker's opinion of the candidate. It was also made clear that having regard to the moral turpitude involved in the offering of the bribe, the statement in question affected his private character as well and not merely the political character of the candidate. Thus the emphasis was on the allegation relating to the personal character of bribing the voters which cannot form part of the political character since the act of bribery has a personal element. 42. In Sheopat Singh v. Ram Pratap [1965]1SCR175 , it was held that any criticism of a person's political or public activities and policies is outside Section 123(4). It was further held that the word "calculated" means designed : It denotes more than mere likelihood and imports a design to affect voters. 43. The consent of the candidate for the purposes of Section 123(4) when the offending statement of fact which is false is published by any other person may be proved by inference from the circumstances and not necessarily by positive evidence to that effect since positive evidence of consent may not be available. See B.R. Rao v. N.G. Ranga AIR 1971 SC 267 , Narasingh Charon....
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....mples in the constituency. This was said by Gadakh in the meetings at Ahmednagar on 2nd May, 1991 and Newasa on 3rd May, 1991. (7) Vikhe Patil was going to distribute sarees, dhoties, liquor and cash in the constituency. This was said in the meeting at NeWasa on 3rd May, 1991 and in the interview given to Girish Kulkarni on 19th May, 1991 which was published in the Maharashtra Times of 13th May, 1991. (8) In his speech, Gadakh had advised the voters to accept these articles from Vikhe Patil to vote for Gadakh only. Re.: Sharad Pawar 46. The gist of the statements attributed to Sharad Pawar according to the notice given to him under Section 99 of the R.P. Act, is as follows: (A) At Newasa on 3rd May, 1991 (1) Vikhe Patil had filed the nomination from the South instead of North constituency because the people of this constituency are poor having problems due to which Vikhe Patil thinks to win over easily, but he does not know the inner strength of the poor peoples. (2) Possessed with the illusion that Vikhe Patil will be able to purchase the poor people of the South with the help of the resources at his disposal, but ever....
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....aking of those statements has been proved. On the other hand, Sharad Pawar has chosen not to adduce any evidence or pray for recall of any witness for cross-examination and, therefore, the statements attributed to him being pleaded and proved by the election petitioner, the only question is whether they constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act. It is also significant that all the statements alleged to have been made by Gadakh as enumerated earlier are not attributed to Sharad Pawar, Particularly those relating to Vikhe Patil's election budget of three crore rupees, payment by him of Rs. 50 lakhs to the Janata Dal election fund and Rs. 20 lakhs to the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse Patil. On behalf of Sharad Pawar, it was also contended by Shri Parasaran that to constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4), the consent of the returned candidate Gadakh to the making of these statements by Sharad Pawar was also essential which had neither been pleaded nor proved. It was submitted that the fact of Gadakh's presence at the time when these statements are alleged to have been made by Sharad Pawar in the public meetings is not sufficient to prov....
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....7 of R.P. Act. This being so, the only question is whether the statement that Vikhe Patil had an election budget of Rs. 3 crores was a false statement of fact the kind envisaged by Sub-section (4) of Section 1 since the allegation is not of incurring or authorising that expenditure but only of availability of that amount. A feeble attempt was made by Shri P.P. Rao to argue that the innuendo in that statement was that Vikhe Patil had rupees three crores of ill-gotten money which he could utilise for purchasing the voters and other electoral malpractices. In the first place, there is not even a hint of such an innuendo in the election petition or the evidence adduced in a sport thereof. This further suggestion has therefore to be ignored as indicated earlier. Faced with this difficulty, Shri Rao modified his argument to contend that even if this statement by itself did not constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4), it was a relevant fact to indicate the means or capacity of Vikhe Patil to probablise the other statements alleging the possibility of adopting malpractices to win the election. So far as the means of the candidates is concerned, it is sufficient to say that bot....
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....Admitted contemporaneous news reports and the conduct of Gadakh after knowing their contents further reassures us that these statements were made by Gadakh. Accordingly, we are referring only to some significant evidence on the point. 53. The statement of Gadakh alleging payment of Rs. 50 lakhs by Vikhe Patil to Janata Dal election fund does not necessarily imply that this payment to Janata Dal was for shifting its candidate to another constituency particularly when no other details were given. There is not such clear pleading in the election petition to that effect. This statement has, therefore to be examined as the allegation of contribution to the election fund of a political party. There is no allegation that this payment was alleged to have been made it any time after Vikhe Patil had become a candidate at the election. In these circumstances, it is doubtful if the mere allegation of contribution to a political party's election fund prior to becoming a candidate can amount to the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act. 54. The position, however, is different with regard to the allegation of payment of Rs. 20 lakhs to the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse....
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....ry strenuously and ably, even through unsuccessfully, argued that a strong rumour to this effect was then afloat which together with the circumstances in which B.G. Kolse Patil, the Janata Dal candidate withdrew from that constituency, lent credence to the rumour creating a reasonable belief in the mind of Gadakh that the same was true. Shri Ashok Desai submitted that in these circumstances, Gadakh had reasonable belief in the truth of the statement attributed to him and, therefore, this requirement of Section 123(4) was not satisfied on account of which the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) is not proved. We are unable to accept this contention. 57. Vikhe Patil had denied the payment of Rs. 20 lakhs to B.G. Kolse Patil and also asserted that Gadakh while making the statement did not believe it to be true. This is all that could be done by Vikhe Patil to prove the belief of Gadakh at the time of making the statement since that related to the state of mind of Gadakh which he knew est. Even though the burden on the pleadings to prove the satisfaction of this requirement was throughout on Vikhe Patil, the election petitioner, yet the initial burden of leading evidence of that f....
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....tion given to you that Shri B.G. Kolse Patil going to withdraw from South constituency A'nagar having accepted Rs. 20 lacs from the petitioner. What exactly did you want to say in this regard? (Shri S.B. Mhase, Adv. for the petitioner objected asking this question, on the ground that there is no ambiguity in both these questions in the chief as well as cross-examination and the purpose for asking this question is to wipe out the admission given by the witness under stress of cross-exam, and therefore, it should not be allowed. Moreover, this question is not permissible in re-examination. This objection shall be decided by the High Court) Ans. It is true that I believed the say of the congress workers before starting of the Sonai meeting that petitioner paid Rs. 20 lacs to Shri B.G. Kolse Patil for withdrawing from South A'nagar constituency but then when I gave admission in cross-examination as stated above in the question I believed it more, and it was to the effect that Janata Dal asked Shri B.G. Kolshe Patil to withdraw from South A'nagar constituency and to contest election from beed constituency. 59. It is clear from the above extracts that Gad....
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....of B.G. Kolse Patil from South Ahmednagar constituency on 29th April, 1991. He was never questioned about his belief on this aspect prior to the making of these statements or prior to the actual withdrawal by B.G. Kolse Patil. It is also significant that the explanation offered by Shri Desai in his arguments is not the explanation given by Gadakh even though he was re-examined pointedly with reference to this admission. It is sufficient to say that the explanation offered by Shri Desai cannot be accepted when even Gadakh does not say so and Gadakh's belief at the time of making the statements subsequent to withdrawal of B.G. Kolse Patil was the only fact in issue. 61. The dispute relating to the statement attributed to Gadakh alleging payment of Rs. 20 lakhs by Vikhe Patil to B.G. Kolse Patil for withdrawing from the South Ahmednagar constituency and shifting to another constituency is in a limited area. Gadakh says that this was the rumour afloat and his own workers had been repeatedly telling him so pointing out the workers of Vikhe Patil as the source of their information. It is significant that Gadakh has not examined any of his workers who according to him gave this inf....
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....sent such a letter by registered post to ensure its delivery and create cogent evidence of its despatch. Moreover, he would not merely send such a letter hut have his denial published in newspapers because of its significance during elections. We have no doubt that Gadakh's conduct belies his belated denial at the trial. 64. There is, however, another aspect of such a stand taken by Gadakh. Some features are rendered beyond doubt on this point. Gadakh must take the consequence of the contents of the letter which he claims to have sent on 16th May, 1991, even though we have rejected his claim of sending such a letter. This letter appears to have been brought into existence later when Gadakh was faced with the consequence of his interview. Admittedly, Gadakh had known prior to 16th May, 1991 the contents of the news-item (Exh. 90) published in the Maharashtra Times attributing to him the statement alleging payment of Rs. 20 lakhs by Vikhe Patil to B.G. Kolse Patil but he did not choose to contradict the same by a denial through the Press or in any other authentic manner. Silence of Gadakh at that time reinforces authenticity and the correctness of the news-item. (Exh. 90). Ano....
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.... contest from the other constituency on a full assessment of his prospects in the election from of the South Ahmednagar constituency against Vikhe Patil who even according to Gadakh was a very strong and influential candidate. The mere fact that Smt. Mrinal Gore had spoken against the likelihood of withdrawal of B.G. Kolse Patil from South Ahmednagar is not by itself significant since action of politicians contrary to their earlier declaration in such matters is not uncommon. Moreover, in view of the direct evidence in the form of admission by Gadakh of the kind of belief he entertained at the time of making the statement, these circumstances are in-consequential when Gadakh himself does not say so. The direct evidence of Gadakh himself about the kind of belief he entertained at that time is decisive of the matter and conclusive against him on this point. 66. It cannot, therefore, be doubted that Gadakh did not believe in the truth of this allegation made against Vikhe Patil when he said in his speech and interview that Rs. 20 lakhs had been paid by Vikhe Patil to the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse Patil for withdrawing from this constituency and shifting to another constituenc....
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....ction campaign by payment of money and the mere hiring of workers for election campaign is not an offending statement of fact under Section 123(4). Any further consideration of this aspect may have been necessary only if the corrupt practice alleged was that under Sub-section (6) and not merely under Sub-section (4) of Section 123 of the R.P. Act. Unless the hiring of workers by payment of money resulted in exceeding the permissible maximum limit of election expenditure to constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(6), this fact alone would not constitute the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) since the mere hiring of workers during election campaign is not a corrupt practice. 70. Another statement attributed to Gadakh is that Vikhe Patil was likely to give money for the repair of Chawdies and renovation of temples. This too is a vague general statement without the details which could not be taken seriously by any one. No attempt has been made in the evidence by either side to prove the truth of falsity of this statement. Assuming such a statement was made which was also false, there is no evidence to prove the impact of such a vague statement. Mere repair of chawdies ....
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....ng for Vikhe Patil who had exhibited lack of political morality by abandoning the Congress (I) Party when the party ticket was not given to him after he had the benefit of representing the party in the Lok Sabha for five terms. Shri Parasaran contended that the rumours being afloat of the likelihood of such tactics to be adopted by Vikhe Patil to win the election, Sharad Pawar merely warned the electorate to be not misled by the same. It was also contended by Shri Parasaran that Sharad Pawar did not even mention the payment of any money by Vikhe Patil to the Janata Dal election fund or to the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse Patil which are the allegations made against Gadakh, in spite of shifting of the Janata Dal candidate B.G. Kolse Patil to another constituency after a categorical statement to the contrary was made till the last minute by the Janata Dal Leader Smt. Mrinal Gore and rumours being afloat to that effect. Shri Parasaran in all fairness did not dispute that Sharad Pawar was given the requisite opportunity to lead evidence and to cross-examine the witnesses examined in support of the election petition, but added that this was unnecessary since the statements made by Sh....
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....no objection to acceptance of the articles if they were distributed. For the reason given while dealing with Gadakh's statement to this effect, Sharad Pawar's statement that he had no objection to acceptance of the same, does not fall within the net of Section 123(4). The fourth statement again refers to the likelihood in future of distribution of articles and wealth and proceeds to add: "Let them do to it at the place and so far diverting the votes on the strength of money, let it be clear to whole of Maharashtra that voters cannot be bought." The emphasis in this statement is on the fact that voters cannot be bought even if such a distribution was made by any candidate and not that any such distribution was being made by the candidate Vikhe Patil. This too does not fall within Section 123(4). The fifth statement also is a general statement to the same effect of the likelihood of corrupting the people and putting pressure on them with the further caution to guard against any such attempt. The sixth and the last statement made at Newasa is an exhortation to the electorate to support morality and honesty to belittle and destroy the force of wealth and ego opposed to it. This....
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....rty on denial of ticket to him and contesting against the Congress (I) Party's candidate. This statement did not relate to the personal character or conduct of Vikhe Patil but merely to his political character and morality. This does not fall within Section 123(4). The third statement is a repetition of the apprehensions for the future of the likelihood of distribution of the benefits in the constituency coupled with the exhortation that if such a thing has begun or is to happen in future, the same may be accepted without being influenced thereby in the choice of the candidate. For the reasons already given, this too does not come within Section 123(4). The fourth and the last statement at Srigonda made by Sharad Pawar was again an exhortation to act on principle, morality and humanity shunning disloyalty and arrogance of money and power. This is indeed high idealism better practiced than preached. This cannot obviously come within Section 123(4). 76. These being the only statements attributed to Sharad Pawar, we have no doubt that none of them constitutes the corrupt practice under Section 123(4) of the R.P. Act and, therefore, accepting that these statements were made by S....
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....y ensuring purity of elections which can be achieved only by a shift in the trend towards the right direction. 79. Judging by these standards, we are constrained to observe that some of the statements made by Sharad Pawar, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, even though not amounting to corrupt practice under the enacted law, do not measure upto the desired level of electioneering at the top echelon of political leadership to set the trend for a healthy election campaign. His suggestion to the voters to accept monies etc., if distributed by a candidate, without being influenced thereby as a means of propagating socialism exhibits a bizarre perception of socialism. It is shocking enough that Gadakh said so but far worse to find the Chief Minister endorse that view. Intended as sarcasm it depicts poor taste. If this be the level of election campaign at the top, it is bound to degenerate as it descends to the lower levels. Some portions of the speeches of Sharad Pawar were indeed high precept but the electorate would have benefited more by knowledge of the track record of the preachers' practice of the same. There was no such attempt. The degree of responsibility and the level o....
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....ere is no discernible cogent reason in the High Court's judgment to support this conclusion. 81. In Konappa Rudrappa Nadgouda v. Vishwanath Reddy and Anr. [1969] 2 SCR (sic). the Constitution Bench pointed out the cases falling under Section 101(b) in which this further declaration can be made. It was held therein as under: We are again unable to see any logic in the assumption that votes cast in favour of a person who is regarded by the Returning Officer as validly nominated, but who is in truth disqualified, could still be treated as valid votes, for the purpose of determining whether a fresh election should be held. When there are only two contesting candidates, and one of them is under a statutory disqualification, votes cast in favour of the disqualified candidate may be regarded as thrown away, irrespective of whether the voters who voted for him were aware of the disqualification. This is not to say that where there are more than two candidates in the field for a single neat, and one alone is disqualified, on proof of disqualification all the votes cast in his favour will be discarded and the candidate securing the next highest number of votes will be declare....