Punjab Municipal Elections : Supreme Court Appoints Former P&H HC Judge To Enquire Into Candidates' Allegations Of Nomination Paper-Snatching, Etc

 The Supreme Court recently constituted a Fact Finding Commission and appointed a former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge to enquire into issues raised by candidates of Punjab municipal elections regarding conduct of the polls.

Without expressing any opinion on merits, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order appointing Justice Nirmaljit Kaur (former High Court judge) to perform the stipulated task, preferably on day-today basis, and submit a report.

"Keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances, both sides have fairly agreed to deviate from the settled prescribed procedure so that a Fact-Finding Commission can be constituted limited to the sub-judice constituencies. Liberty to submit claims shall be limited to those who have either approached the High Court or this Court by way of special leave petitions/intervenor applications", the order observed.

"It goes without saying that the appointment of the Fact Finding Commission will not be a precedent",

Every Document Pertaining To An Election Is Important, All Efforts Should Be Made To Preserve Them

Every vote has its own value, irrespective of its effect in the final outcome and its sanctity should be protected, the Court said.

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Each and every document pertaining to an election is important and all efforts should be made to preserve the same, observed the Supreme Court in a recent judgment.

The Court made this observation in the context of an election of a Gram Pradhan in a village in Uttar Pradesh, which was held in 2021. There were disputes regarding the final count of votes polled and the Presiding Officers' records were missing. Therefore, the Court observed that the final counts was in the realm of questionability.

The diary of the Presiding Officer of the polling booths, which is an essential document recording the casting of votes, could not be found despite a concerted effort, the Court noted.

While ordering a recount, a bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice NK Singh observed :

"The candidates in the election wanting to keep an eye on voting during the day and inspect records of the same is something which cannot be denied to them. If the Presiding Officers' records are missing and cannot be verified, it can be found that the final conclusion is within the realm of questionability. Each and every document pertaining to an election is important and all efforts should be made to preserve the same."

Election Petition—Objection that copy of election petition served is not the "True Copy"—Actual copy served to be examined—Election petition cannot be dismissed at the threshold on this objection.

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Election—Two Third majority—If figure of majority comes to fraction, then fraction has to be treated as one and can never be rounded off to lower number because votes cannot be treated as fraction.

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