o 1239 of 1970
Appeal under Section 116 A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 from the judgment and order dated February 13 1970 of the Madras High Court in Election Petition No 1 of 1969
K K Venugopal R Gopalakrishnan and T L Garg for the Appellant
M K Ramamurthi Vineet Kumar section section Khanduja and N Natrajan for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hegde J
This is an election appeal arising from a judgment of the Madras High Court
It relates to the Election to the Ariyankuppam Assembly constituency of the Pondicherry Legis lative Assembly
The said election was held on March 9 1969
In that election the appellant as well as the respondent contested
The appellant was the Congress nominee and the respondent was
the nominee of the DMK After the counting of votes the res 648 pondent was declared elected as having obtained 3774 votes as against 3758 obtained by the appellant
The appellant challenged the validity of the election of the respondent on various grounds
In his election petition he alleged that the respondent war guilty of canvassing votes on the basis of his caste that he had bribed the voters that the election was not conducted property that there was improper reception of void votes and lastly that he had incurred expenditure more than the prescribed limit
The charge of bribery was not pressed at the time of the trial
The other grounds pleaded on behalf of the appellant were rejected by the High Court and the election petition was dismissed
After hearing the Counsel for the parties regarding the allegation relating to the contravention of section 1236 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 to be hereinafter referred to as the Act we have come to the conclusion that the respondent was guilty of an offence falling within that section as he is proved to have incurred expenditure more than the prescribed limit
We therefore thought that it was not necessary to go into the other charges levelled against the respondent
The limit of expenditure prescribed for the constituency was Rs 2000 
In his election return the respondent had stated that he had incurred an expenditure of Rs 186559 P
The trial court came to the conclusion which conclusion was not challenged before us that he had incurred a further expenditure of Rs 2050 P Hence if the appellant is able to establish that the respondent had incurred at least a further expenditure of Rs 11392 P then the election of the respondent will have to be set aside under section 100  1  b of the Act on the ground that the respondent was guilty of the corrupt practice falling under section 1236
The appellant had alleged in his election petition that the respondent had suppressed in the return submitted by him expenditure incurred under various heads such as expenditures incurred in connection with the holding of election meetings hire paid for the cars used in connection with the elections as well as the price of petrol used for the cars used in that connection
We shall first take up the question of expenditure said to have been incurred in connection with the holding of meetings
The allegation as regards the same is found in paragraph 8v of the election petition
The material portion of that allegation reads The total expenditure incurred or authorised by the respondent herein in connection with the election exceeded the limit prescribed under the Act and the Rules made thereunder
The accounts submitted by the respondent to the Special Officer Election Pondicherry showing a sum of Rs 186559 are false 649 and unrelated to the actual expenditure incurred or authorised by the respondent for his purposes
In his election account the respondent has failed to show the following items of expenditure v The respondent held a large number of election meetings and all these election meetings were conducted in a pandal where a dias was constructed for the speakers
All these meetings were installed with loud speakers tube lights and other electrical fittings were also provided
The construction of the pandal and dais and the installation of loudspeakers and other electrical equipment such as lights etc
would have at least cost Rs 100 for each meeting except for the meeting at Ariyankuppam on 5 3 69 at 730 pm when Shri V R Nedunchezian presided in which meeting several loudspeakers and extra light fittings were provided costing over Rs 200
The dates the time and the place of the meetings are as follows  i On 5 3 1969 at about 830 pm at Poornamukuppam
ii On 6 3 1969 at about 1000 pm at Nonamkuppam
iii On 28 2 69 at about 800 pm at Manaveli
iv On 5 3 69 at about 900 pm at Manaveli
v On 27 2 1969 at about 730 pm at Ariyankuppam
Three other election meetings at Ariyankuppam and one meeting at Periaveerampatinam were also held at the instance of the respondent
vi On 23 2 1969 at about 800 pm at Ariyankuppam
vii On 24 2 1969 at about 800 pm it Ariyankuppam viii On 26 2 1969 at about 800 pm at Veerampattinam
 The respondent s plea relating to those allegations are found paragraph 17 of his written statement
Therein he averred The allegations made in paragraph 8 of the petition are totally false and they are hereby denied
Every one of the allegations made therein are factually incorrect and false
None of the expenditure alleged therein was incurred by the Respondent or under his authority
 650 This is a general denial
The respondent did not deal with the various facts stated in the election petition
From those averments it is clear that the respondent denied having arranged any of the meeting mentioned in the election petition
After the respondent filed his written statement the appellant applied for and obtained permission of the court to amend certain clerical mistakes that had crept into the election petition
After those amendments were carried out the respondent filed an additional written statement
In paragraph 3 of that statement the averred thus  I state that no public meeting took place either on 27 2 1969 or on 28 2 1969 in the manner as alleged by the petitioner in paragraph 4iii and 4iv of the Election Petition
Consequently the allegations as amended in paragraph 8 v iii and 8 v v are also not correct
I further state that no meeting took place on 5 3 69 at Ariyankuppam in the manner as alleged by the petitioner in the amendment application No 2204 of 1969
On October 13 1969 the appellant applied for amendment of the election petition by giving some more particulars of the meetings held by the respondent
By that application he sough to give particulars of about six other meeting in addition to what he had already stated in his election petition said to have beer arranged by the respondent
The court rejected that application on the ground that by that application additional grounds on corrupt practice were sought to be included in the election petition and the same cannot be permitted to be done after the period prescribed for filing the election petition was over
It may be noted that the trial of the case started on January 9 1970
In the order rejecting the amendment application though the court referred to the delay in filing the application it did not reject is on the ground of laches nor did it reject the application on the ground that it was not a bona fide one
The sole ground or which it was rejected was that it was not maintainable as is sought to include additional grounds of corrupt practice
In our opinion the High Court was wholly wrong in coming to the conclusion that the amendment application moved on behalf of the appellant sought to add any new corrupt practice The incurring or authorising of an expenditure in contravention of section 77 of the Act is one single corrupt practice
The incurring or authorising of an expenditure in connection with the election is not by itself a corrupt practice
The corrupt practice is the incurring or authorising the expenditure of more than the prescribed limit
Hence the trial court erred in thinking that each 651 item of expenditure is a corrupt practice by itself
This position is obvious from the language of the section itself
This Court had occasion to go into that question in D P Mishra and anr
v Kamal Narayan Sharma and anr1
In that case this Court came to the conclusion that the particulars of a corrupt practice falling under section 123 6 may in an appropriate case be introduced by amendment
By doing so no additional ground of corrupt practice can be said to have been introduced
If it had been necessary for the case we would have allowed that amendment application and sent back the case for further trial
But for the reasons to be presently stated we have thought it unnecessary to do so
In dealing with the expenditure incurred in connection with the election meetings the first and the important question that has to be decided is as to when the election campaign of the respondent commenced
According to the appellant it commenced on February 23 1969
But according to the respondent it commenced on February 27 1969
Decision on this question has great bearing on the other points arising for decision
Hence we shall first address ourselves to that question
The learned trial judge did not give any positive finding on this question
In the course of his judgment he doubted the evidence of the respondent on this point but by taking a facile view of the evidence on record he just rejected the evidence of the appellant as un acceptable and wholly accepted the evidence of the respondent as regards the number of meetings held though he felt that the respondent has not come forward with a truthful version
It is true that in election cases oral evidence has to be examined with great deal of care because of the partisan atmosphere continuing even after the election
But it will be wrong on the part of courts to just brush aside the oral evidence even when the evidence is highly probable and the same is corroborated by unimpeachable documentary evidence
As mentioned earlier according to the appellant the respondent started his election campaign with a well attended meeting on February 23 1969 at Ariyankuppam
In support of that version he examined PWs 3 4 7 13 16 and 19
Their evidence was corroborated by Exhts
P 15 and P 3
But the learned trial judge rejected this evidence without examining them
He came to the conclusion that the witnesses examined are partisan witnesses
Therefore much reliance cannot be placed on their testimony
But he failed to attach sufficient importance to the tell tale evidence 1 1971 I SCR 8 652 afforded by Exhts
P 17 and P is an application made by the respondent to the Inspector of Police C  Circle Pondicherry
Therein the respondent stated  Please grant me permission to hold a public meeting at Ariyankuppam Cuddalore Road in front of market on the occasion of inauguration of my electoral office on 23 2 1969 from 9 to 12 am and to make use of loud speakers
 The permission sought for was granted by the Inspector
The Inspector PW 24 deposed that he deputed a Head constable to cover that meeting and report about the same
It is gathered from the evidence of PW 24 that in Pondicherry before holding a meeting permission of the police will have to be obtained and it is the usual practice there to depute a police officer to cover the meetings and report about the speeches made by the speakers PW 24 further says that he deputed a Head constable to cover the meeting to be held in connection with the inauguration of the election campaign of the respondent and in that connection the Head constable in question submitted to him the report Exh
The report in question was proved through the Inspector without any objection
The report says that the election campaign of the respondent was inaugurated by holdings a public meeting on February 23 1969 and that meeting was addressed by as many as eight persons in addition to the respondent
This report was received by the Inspector on the 25th of February
Despite this clinching evidence afforded by Exhts
P 15 and P 35 the respondent made bold to deny the factum of having held a meeting on the 23rd
In view of this documentary evidence the learned trial judge was unable accept the evidence of the respondent
All the same he opined that it was immaterial whether the election campaign was inaugurated on the 23rd or on the 27th since he was inclined to accept the evidence of the respondent that he had held only seven meetings and not more
This in our opinion is an erroneous approach
As seen earlier the respondent has denied having held any meeting on February 23
But this denial cannot be accepted as true
For the reasons already mentioned we feel satisfied that the respondent s election campaign commenced on the 23rd February 1969 and in that connection a meeting was held in Ariyankuppam on that date
Before proceeding further we may at this stage mention that though in his written statement respondent denied having held any meeting at all a statement which on the face of it cannot be true in his evidence he admitted having arranged seven meetings
This he had to admit in view of the receipts that be had produced along with his return
In his evidence he admitted 653 that he held meetings on February 27 1969 March 5 1969 and March 6 1969 at Ariyankuppam
He also admitted that he held a meeting on March 5 1969 at Poornamukuppam and on March 6 1969 at Manaveli and again on the same day at Veerampatnam
Hence admittedly he held seven meetings
Let us now proceed to see whether the appellant has satisfactorily proved that the respondent had held any more meetings
We have earlier come to the conclusion that he had held a meeting at Ariyankuppam on February 23 1969
The appellant alleged that the respondent had held one more meeting at Ariyankuppam on February 24 1969
To prove this fact he had examined PWs 3 and 4
Their evidence is corro borated by Exh
P 16an application admittedly given by the respondent to the police for permission for holding a meeting on that day and exhibit P36 the police report sent in that connection The learned trial judge did not accept the contention of the respondent that he had not hold a meeting on Ariyankuppam on February 24 1969
Then we come to the meeting alleged to have been held on February 26 1969 at Veerampatinam
On this question the trial court has come to the conclusion that the respondent bad held a meeting at Veerampattinam on February 26 1969
On this point the oral evidence adduced by the appellant is corroborated by exhibit P 17 the application made by the respondent to the police for permission to hold that meeting and P 38 the report made by the police
Then we come to the meeting said to have been held at Manaveli on February 28 1969
The respondent himself admitted in his evidence that he did arrange a meeting at Manaveli on that date
In his evidence the respondent admitted as having arranged a meeting at Ariyankuppam on March 6 1969
According to him he arranged that meeting but curiously the learned trial judge came to the conclusion despite that admission of the respondent that PW 6 arranged that meeting as that witness in his evidence claimed that he arranged that meeting and spent for the same
The learned trial judge over looked the fact that no such plea was taken by the respondent in his written statement nor was it his case in his evidence that meeting was arranged for PW 6
For the reasons mentioned abovewe are satisfied that in addition to the seven election meetings which the respondent admitted having arranged the appellant has been able to satisfactorily prove that the respondent had arranged at least four more meetings
Now coming to the question as to the expenditure incurred in collection with those meetings it is no doubt for the appellant L643SupCI72 654 to prove the same
According to the respondent he had not maintained any accounts in connection with his election
The expenditure incurred for his election is specially within the knowledge of the respondent
He has not adduced any evidence in that connection
He has totally denied having held those meetings
That denial for the reasons already mentioned cannot be accepted
Therefore we have now to find out what would have been the reasonable expenditure incurred in connection with those meetings
Even according to the respondent for the seven meetings held by him he incurred an expenditure of more than Rs 225 
That means on an average he had incurred an expense of about Rs 32 per meeting
This is clearly an underestimate
But even if we accept that to be correct for the four meetings referred to earlier he would have incurred an expenditure of Rs 128 
If this expense is added to the sum of Rs 18869 p referred to
earlier the total expenditure incurred exceeds the prescribed limit of Rs 2000  
Hence the respondent is clearly guilty of the corrupt practice mentioned in section 1236
Before leaving this case it is necessary to refer to one of the contentions taken by Mr Ramamurthi learned Counsel for the respondent
He contended that the police reports referred to earlier are inadmissible in evidence as the Head constables who covered those meetings have not been examined in the case
Those reports were marked without any objection
Hence it is not open to the respondent now to object to their admissibility see Bhagat Ram vs Khetu Ram and anr
It was next urged that even if the reports in question are admissible we cannot look into the contents of those documents
This contention is again unacceptable
Once a document is properly admitted the contents of that document are also admitted in evidence though those contents may not be conclusive evidence
It was lastly contended that the evidence afforded by the police reports is not relevant
This again is untenable contention
Reports in question were made by government officials in the discharge of their official duties
Those officers had been deputed by their superiors to cover the meetings in question
Obviously they were deputed in connection with the maintenance of law and order which is the special responsibility of the police
Hence the question whether those reports were made in compliance with any particular provision of law is irrelevant
The first part of section 35 of the Evidence Act says that an entry in any public record stating a fact in issue or relevant fact and 1 AIR1929PC110
655 made by a public servant in the discharge of his official duty is relevant evidence
Quite clearly the reports in question were made by public servants in discharge of their official duty
The issue before the court is whether the respondent had arranged certain election meetings on certain dates
The police reports in question are extremely relevant to establish that fact
Hence they come within the ambit of the 1st part of section 35 of the Evidence Act
In this connection we would like to refer to the decision of the Madras High Court in Navaneetha Krishna Thevar vs Ramaswami Pandia Thalavar1
Therein the learned judges observed thus As however the case may not stop here we think it right to allow the petitioners in Civil Miscellaneous Petitions Nos 845 and 1655 of 1915 for the admission of certain documents rejected by the Subordinate Judge namely 1 the decree of the Zilah Court of Tinnevelly dated 31st May 1859 in Original Suit No 4 of 1859 2 the Takid of the Collector to the Muzumdar on the death of the raja in 1850 3 the reply of the Muzumdar and 4 the Collector s Takid in 1853 on the complaint of the zamindar s widow as to the conduct of Maruthappa Thevar who according to the plaintiff s case was the father of Gnanapurani s mother
They will accordingly be marked as Exhibits XXXIV XXXV XXXVI and XXXVII respectively and incorporated in the record
The learned Advocate General did not support the exclusion of the last three on the ground that the copies of correspondence kept in the Collector s and taluk offices were not signed but contended that they were not admissible under section 35 of the Indian Evidence Act
We think however that copies of actual letters I made in registers of official correspondence kept for reference and record are admissible under section 35 as reports and records of acts done by public officers in the course of their official duty and of statements made to them and that in the words of their Lordships in Rajah Muttu Ramalinga Setupati vs Periyanayagam Pillai 2  they are entitled to great consideration in so far as they supply information of material facts and also in so far as they are relevant to the conduct and acts of the parties in relation to the proceedings of Government founded upon them
 We are in agreement with the view taken by the Madras High Court in that case
1 IL R at 678  870
2 1974 L R IA 209p
656 Now coming to the value to be attached to the evidence afforded by those reports we may usefully refer to the decision of the Judicial Committee in Arjuno Naiko and ors
vs Modonomohano Naiko and ors1 In fact case a person brought a suit for establishing that lie was the adopted son of a dismissed Sirdar and as such entitled to succeed to the Sirdarship
In evidence documents coming from official sources recording statements as to adoption made to the officials in the locality not merely by the plaintiff himself in the presence of others but also by other member and by the dismissed Sirdar himself were produced
These statements were made at a time when no disputes had arisen and were made in connexion with a matter of local interest viz the appointment of a new Sirdar
The Judicial Committee held that the documents carried greatest possible weight and could not be dismissed as mere self assertions
Similarly in this case the police reports in question were made by the government officials who are not shown to be inimically disposed towards the respondent or his party
They were made when there was no dispute and the dispute in question could not have been anticipated
In view of the above conclusion it is not necessary to go to the other contentions advanced on behalf of the appellant
In the result we allow this appeal set aside the order of the High Court accept the election petition of the appellant and set aside the election of the respondent
The respondent shall pay the costs of the appellant both in this Court as well as in the High Court
SC Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellant challenged the validity of the election of the respondent to the Pondicherry Legislature Assembly on various grounds including corrupt practices
The High Court dismissed the election petition
In the appeal to this Court the appellant contended i that the appellant s amendment application of the election petition giving more particulars of meetings held by the respondent was wrongfully rejected by the Trial Court on the sole ground that it sought to include additional grounds of corrupt practice and ii that the respondent had actually incurred expenses in connection with 4 more meetings thereby exceeding the prescribed limit
The respondent on the other band contended that the various police reports about the meetings relied on by the appellant were not admissible in evidence as the head constable who covered the meetings had not been examined in the case that even if the reports were admissible the Court could not look into the contents of those documents and that the evidence afforded by the Police reports was not relevant
Allowing the appeal HELD  i The incurring or authorising of an expenditure in contravention of section 77 of the Act is one single corrupt practice
The incurring or authorising of an expenditure in connection with the election is Dot by itself a corrupt practice
The corrupt practice is the incurring or authorising the expenditure of more than the prescribed limit
Hence the Trial Court erred in thinking that each item of expenditure is a corrupt practice by itself
The particulars of corrupt practice failing under sections 1236 of the Act may in an appropriate case be introduced by amendment
By doing so no additional ground of corrupt practice can he said to have been introduced
650 H D P Misra and Anr 
vs Kamal Narain Sharma and Anr
1971 I SCR 8 referred to
ii As regards the number of meetings held by the respondent although he denied having held any meeting at all however admitted in his evidence that he bad arranged seven meetings between February 27 1969 to March 6 1969
The appellant however had been able to prove that the respondent had held four more meetings between February 23 1968 to March 6 1969
In support of his claim the appellant examined a number of witnesses and their evidence was corroborated by a number of applications which the respondent made to the Inspector of Police asking permission to hold the meetings and by the police reports which the Head constables made to their superior after attending the meetings
Therefore on an average if the respondent spent Rs 32 per meeting which he admitted the total for the 4 extra meetings must have cost the Respondent Rs 128 
If this expense was added to the sum of Rs 188609 which the respondent had spent for his entire election the 647 total expenditure would exceed the prescribed limit of Rs 2000 
Hence the respondent was clearly guilty of corrupt practices mentioned in 1236
652 H iii The police reports were marked without any objection
Hence it was not open to the respondent to object to their admissibility at a later stage
Bhagat Ram vs Kheta Ram and Anr AIR 1929 PC 110 referred iv Further as regards the contents of the document once a document is properly admitted the contents of that document are also admitted in evidence although the contents may not be conclusive evidence
654 F v The first part of section 35 of the Evidence Act says that an entry in any public record stating a fact in issue or relevant fact made by a public servant in discharge of his official duties is relevant evidence
Quite clearly the reports in question were made by public servants in discharge of their official duty
The issue before the Court was whether the respondent had arranged certain election meetings on certain dates
The police reports in question were extremely relevant to establish that fact
Hence it came within the ambit of the first part of section 35 of the Evidence Act
655 B Naveneetha Krishna Thelavar vs Ramesway Pandia Thelavar ILR 40 Madras 871 approved
In the present case the police reports in question were by government officials who were not shown to be inimically disposed towards the respondent or his party
They were made when there was no dispute and the dispute in question would not have been anticipated
Therefore such reports carry greatest possible weight and could not be dismissed lightly
656 D Arjuno Naiko and Ors
vs Madonomohano Naiko  Ors A I R  referred to