Civil Appeal No 3839 of 1982
From the Judgment and order dated the 12th October 1982 of the Kerala High Court in Election Petition No 1 of 1982
KK Venugopal G Vishwanatha Iyer and EMS Anam for the Appellant
76 Ram Jethamalani MM Abdul Khader Dileep Pillai and MA Firoz for Respondent No 1
KG Bhagat Addls Sol
General and Miss A Subhashini for Union
SS Ray AK Sen and Miss A Subhashini for the Election Commissioner
Ram Jethamalani and Miss Rani Jethmalani for the Intervener
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by FAZAL ALI J
This election appeal has been filed by the appellant who was a candidate for election to No 70 Parur Assembly Constituency in Kerala but was not elected
Six candidates contested the said election which was held on May 19 1982 out of whom the first respondent Sivan Pillai who was a candidate of the Communist Party of India and the appellant were the two principal contestants
The result of the election was announced on May 201982 in which the first respondent was declared elected having secured 30450 votes as against 30327 votes secured by the appellant
Thus the first respondent secured 123 more votes than the appellant
Of the 30450 votes 11268 were cast manually according to the conventional method provided in the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 for short to be referred to as the Rules  made under the Representation of the People Act 1951 hereinafter to be referred to as the Act  and 19182 votes were cast by means of electronic machines for short to be referred to as voting machines 
This was done in pursuance of the direction issued by the Election Commission of India for facility to be referred to as the Commission  by virtue of a notification published in the Kerala Gazette on 13582
The said notification was purported to have been made under article 324 of the Constitution of India and has been extracted on pages 3 to 5 of the judgment of the High Court and it is not necessary for us to repeat the same having regard to the point of law that we have to decide in the instant case
It may be mentioned that prior to issuing the notification the commission had sought the sanction of the Government of India which was however refused
As mentioned above the votes 77 by the mechanical process were cast in 50 out of the 85 polling stations
The trial Court upheld the validity of voting by machine and held that the respondent was duly elected to the Assembly seat
Hence this appeal by the appellant
article 324 of the Constitution gives full powers to the Commission in matters of Superintendence direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and also for the conduct of elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures
It was argued that the Commission being a creature of the Constitution itself its plenary powers flowing directly from article 324 will prevail over any Act passed by the Parliament or Rules made thereunder
In order to buttress this argument it was contended that the manner of voting was a matter coming within the ambit of articles 324 and 327 which empowered the Parliament to make laws in respect of matters relating to or in connection with the elections to the Parliament or the State Legislatures and would be deemed to be subsidiary to the power contained in article 324 and if there was any conflict between a law enacted by the Parliament and the powers given to the Commission regarding regulating the conduct of elections to Parliament that law must yield to article 324 otherwise the very object of article 324 would be defeated
Notice was given by this Court both to the Union of India as also the Commission though in terms of section 82 of the Act they are not necessary parties and were not before the High Court
This is a very attractive argument but on a closer scrutiny and deeper deliberation on this aspect of the matter it is not possible to read into article 324 such a wide and uncanalised power which is entrusted to the Commission as Mr Jethmalani would have us believe
Part XV of the Constitution contains articles 324 to 328 which relate to the manner in which elections are to be held the rights of persons who are entitled to vote preparation of electoral rolls delimitation of constituencies etc but this is merely the storehouse of the powers and the actual exercise of these powers is left to Parliament under articles 325 to 329
In other words article 324 has to be read in harmony with and not in isolation of articles 326 to 329
article 324 may be extracted thus 324
Superintendence direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission
78 1 The superintendence direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for and the conduct of all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of President and Vice President held under this Constitution shall be vested in a Commission referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission
2 The Election Commission shall consist of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners if any as the President may from time to time fix and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament be made by the President
3 When any other Election Commissioner is so appointed the Chief Election Commissioner shall act as the Chairman of the Election Commission
4 Before each general election to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of each State and before the first general election and thereafter before each biennial election to the Legislative Council of each State having such Council the President may also appoint after consultation with the Election Commission such Regional Commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the Election Commission in the performance of the functions conferred on the Commission by clause 1
5 Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Election Commissioners and the Regional Commissioners shall be such as the President may by rule determine Provided that the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court and the conditions of service of the Chief Election Commissioner shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment
Provided further that any other Election Commissioner or a Regional Commissioner shall not be removed from 79 office except on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner
6 The President or the Governor of a State shall when so requested by the Election Commission make available to the Election Commission or to a Regional Commissioner such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the Election Commission by clause 1
 While interpreting a constitutional provision we must remember the memorable words of Chief Justice Marshall We must never forget that it is the Constitution which we are expounding Another golden rule laid down by this Court on the interpretation of statutes is that we should so interpret the language of a Statute as to suppress the mischief and advance the object
It is true that article 324 does authorise the Commission to exercise powers of superintendence direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament and State legislatures but then the Article has to be read harmoniously with the Articles that follow and the powers that are given to the Legislatures under entry No 72 in the Union List and entry No 37 of the State List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution
The Commission in the garb of passing orders for regulating the conduct of elections cannot take upon itself a purely legislative activity which has been reserved under the scheme of the Constitution only to Parliament and the State legislatures
By no standards can it be said that the Commission is a third Chamber in the legislative process within the scheme of the Constitution
Merely being a creature of the Constitution will not give it plenary and absolute power to legislate as it likes without reference to the law enacted by the legislatures
It was further argued that this power was necessary in order to make the Commission an independent body and in this connection our attention was drawn to a speech of Dr Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly when the question of making the Election Commission an independent body was being debated At page 905 Constituent Assembly Debates Vol8 Dr Ambedkar observed thus 80 But the House affirmed without any kind of dissent that in the interests of purity and freedom of elections to the legislative bodies it was of the utmost importance that they should be freed from any kind of interference from the executive of the day
In pursuance of the decision of the House the Drafting Committee removed this question from the category of Fundamental Rights and put it in a separate part containing Articles 289 290 and so on Therefore so far as the fundamental question is concerned that the election machinery should be outside the control of the executive Government there has been no dispute
What article 289 does is to carry out that part of the decision of the Constituent Assembly
It transfers the superintendence direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls and of all elections to Parliament and the Legislatures of States to a body outside the executive to be called the Election Commission
 These observations merely show that the intention of the founding fathers of our Constitution was to make the Commission a separate and independent body so that the election machinery may be outside the control of the executive Government
What Dr Ambedkar or for that matter the founding fathers intended was that the superintendence direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and of all elections to Parliament and State Legislatures should be left to the Election Commission
This object has been fully carried out by the provisions in articles 324 to 329
Neither the observations of Dr Ambedkar nor the provisions of the Constitution could ever have intended to make the Commission an apex body in respect of matters relating to elections conferring on it legislative powers ignoring the Parliament altogether
Mr Asoke Sen appearing for the Commission speaking in the same strain as Mr Jethmalani contended that article 324 was a Code in itself and was couched in a very plain and simple language which admits of no ambiguity and if so construed it gives full powers and authority to the Commission to give any direction in connection with the conduct of elections
It was further submitted that if this interpretation is not given then articles 325 to 329 would amount to defeating the very object which was sought to be achieved by article 324
Supporting argument was built up by Mr Sen by heavily relying upon the opening words in article 327 to 81 the effect subject to the provisions of this Constitution and absence of any such rider in article 324
For the reasons which we will give hereafter it is not possible for us to accept the somewhat far fetched argument of the learned counsel
Reliance was placed on a decision of this Court in Sadiq Ali and Anr
vs Election Commission of India and Ors
where the Court observed thus article 324 of the Constitution provides inter alia that the superintendence direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for and the conduct of all elections to Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of the States and all elections to the offices of President and Vice President held under the Constitution shall be vested in the Commission Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power sub section 2 enumerates some of the matters for which provision may be made in the rules
Sub section 3 requires that the rules framed should be laid before each House of Parliament
Conduct of Election Rules 1961 were thereafter framed by the Central Government
Rules 5 of those Rules requires the Commission to specify the symbols that may be chosen by candidates at elections in Parliamentary and Assembly elections and the restrictions to which that choice shall be subject
Rule 10 makes provision for allotment of symbols to the contesting candidates by the Returning officer subject to general or special directions issued by the Commission
 The first part of the above observations merely repeats the language of article 324 but the second part clearly shows that the power under article 324 is conditioned by the Rules made by the Central Government for the conduct of all elections
These observations therefore do not appear to us to be of any assistance to the stand taken by the appellant
Reliance was also placed on the following observations in the said case Question then arises as to what is the binding nature of the decision given by the Commission under paragraph 15 In this respect it has to be borne in mind that the Commission only decides the question as to whether any of the 82 rival sections or groups of a recognised political party each of whom claims to be that party is that party
The claim made in this respect is only for the purpose of symbols in connection with the elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures and the decision of the Commission pertains to this limited matter Emphasis ours These observations also do not advance the matter any further because it was clearly held that the claim made in respect of symbols pertained only to the limited matter which was being considered by the Commission
The following observations of this Court in that case completely clinch the issue against the appellant It would follow from what has been discussed earlier in this judgment that the Symbols order makes detailed provisions for the reservation choice and allotment of symbols and the recognition of political parties in connection therewith
That the Commission should specify symbols for elections in Parliamentary and assembly constituencies has also been made obligatory by rule 5 of Conduct of Election Rules Emphasis supplied Thus it is manifestly apparent from this decision that the rule making power of the Commission under the Act with respect to symbols would have to prevail over any order that it may pass and the words conduct of elections would not make the Commission a purely legislative body
Another case on which great reliance was placed is Mohinder Singh Gill and Anr
vs The Chief Election Commissioner New Delhi and Ors
In this case it was held that an order passed by a statutory functionary on certain specific grounds cannot be supplemented by external evidence like affidavits or otherwise
This case also nowhere lays down that the Commission possesses plenary powers both executive and legislative in the guise of conduct of elections
One of the main questions posed by Krishna Iyer J speaking for the Court was as follows Can the Election Commission clothed with the comprehensive functions under Article 324 of the Constitution cancel the whole poll of a constituency after it has been 83 held but before the formal declaration of the result has been made and direct a fresh poll without reference to the guidelines under sections 58 and 64a of the Act or other legal prescription or legislative backing
If such plenary power exists is it exercisable on the basis of his inscrutable subjective satisfaction  or only on a reviewable objective assessment reached on the basis of circumstances vitiating a free and fair election and warranting the stoppage of declaration of the result and directions of a fresh poll not merely of particular polling stations but of the total constituency The learned Judge while answering the question observed thus Article 324 which we have set out earlier is a plenary provision vesting the whole responsibility for national and State elections and therefore the necessary powers to discharge that function
It is true that article 324 has to be read in the light of the constitutional scheme and the 1950 Act and the 1951 Act
Sri Rao is right to the extent he insists that if competent legislation is enacted as visualized in Article 327 the Commission cannot make himself free from the enacted prescriptions
And the supremacy of valid law over the Commission argues itself
No one is an imperium in imperio in our constitutional order
It is reasonable to hold that the Commissioner cannot defy the law armed by article 324
Likewise his functions are subject to the norms of fairness and he cannot act arbitrarily
Unchecked power is alien to our system
Article 324 in our view operates in areas left unoccupied by legislation and the words superintendence direction and control  as well as conduct  of all elections  are the broadest terms Emphasis ours The observations extracted above furnish a complete answer to the arguments of Mr Jethmalani and Mr Asoke Sen as it has been clearly held that article 324 would operate only in areas left unoccupied by legislation even if the widest possible connotation is given to the language of article 324
While summarizing the propositions the Court made the following observations Two limitations at least are laid on its plenary 84 character in the exercise thereof
Firstly when Parliament or any State Legislature has made valid law relating to or in connection with elections the Commission shall act in conformity with not in violation of such provision but where such law is silent article 324 is a reservoir of power to act for the avowed purpose of not divorced from pushing forward a free and fair election with expedition
Secondly the Commission shall be responsible to the rule of law act bona fide and be amenable to the norms of natural justice in so far as conformance to such canons can reasonably and realistically be required of it as fairplay in action in a most important area of the constitutional order viz elections Emphasis ours This is actually the main spirit and gist of the decision which appears to have been relied upon by the appellant but which does not at all support his stand
In the aforesaid case there did not appear to be any conflict between the order passed by the Commission and the Act or the Rules
The question at issue in the instant case did not really arise in the form and shape as has been presented before us
On the other hand the matter seems to have been fully settled by an earlier decision of this Court in NP Ponnuswami vs Returning officer Namakkal Constituency and ors
where Fazal Ali J as he then was while making a very pointed and crisp approach scientifically analysed the position thus Broadly speaking before an election machinery can be brought into operation there are three requisites which require to be attended to namely 1 there should be a set of laws and rules making provisions with respect to all matters relating to or in connection with elections and it should be decided as to how these laws and rules are to be made 2 there should be an executive charged with the duty of securing the due conduct of elections and 3 there should be a judicial tribunal to deal with disputes arising out of or in connection with elections
Articles 327 and 328 deal with the first of these requisites article 324 with the second and article 329 with the third requisite
The other two articles in Part XV viz articles 325 and 326 deal with two 85 matters of principle to which the Constitution framers have attached much importance
They are 1 prohibition against discrimination in the preparation of or eligibility for inclusion in the electoral rolls on grounds of religion race caste sex or any of them and 2 adult suffrage
Part XV of the Constitution is really a code in itself providing the entire ground work for enacting appropriate laws and setting up suitable machinery for the conduct of elections
 We fully endorse and follow the above observations of the Constitution Bench which lay down the correct law on the subject and we have nothing further to add to the approach made by this Court in the case referred to above
On the other hand our view that articles 324 to 329 have to be construed harmoniously flows as a logical corollary from the ratio in Ponnuswami s case
The pointed an pungent observations extracted above really amount to a Bible of the election law as culled out from an interpretation of the provisions of articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution and were referred to with approval even in Mohinder Singh Gill s case supra
During the last three decades this case has neither been distinguished nor dissented from and still holds the field and with due respect very rightly
No other case ever made such a dynamic and clear approach to the problem perhaps due to the fact that no such occasion arose because the Commission has always been following the provisions of the Act and the Rules and had never attempted to arrogate to itself powers which were not meant to belong to it
Indeed if we were to accept the contention of the respondents it would convert the Commission into an absolute despot in the field of election so as to give directions regarding the mode and manner of elections by passing the provisions of the Act and the Rules purporting to exercise powers under cover of Art 324
If the Commission is armed with such unlimited and arbitrary powers and if it ever happens that the persons manning the commission shares or is wedded to a particular ideology he could by giving odd directions cause a political havoc or bring about a constitutional crisis setting at naught the integrity and independence of electoral process so important and indispensable to the democratic system
Further such an absolute and uncanalised power given to the Commission without providing any guidelines would itself destroy the basic structure of the Rule of Law
It is manifest 86 that such a disastrous consequence could never have been contemplated by the Constitution makers for such an interpretation as suggested by the counsel for the respondent would be far from attaining the goal of purity and sanctity of the electoral process
Hence we must construe articles 324 to 329 as an integral part of the same scheme collaborating rather than colliding with one another
Moreover a perusal of articles 324 to 329 would reveal that the legislative powers in respect of matters relating to Parliament or the State Legislatures vests in Parliament and in no other body
The Commission would come into the picture only if no provision has been made by Parliament in regard to the elections to the Parliament or State Legislatures
Furthermore the power under article 324 relating to superintendence direction and control was actually vesting of merely all the executive powers and not the legislative powers
In other words the legislative power of Parliament or of the legislature of a State being made subject to article 324 only means that no law made by Parliament under article 327 or by a State legislature under article 328 can take away or deprive the Commission of the executive power in regard to matters entrusted to it viz superintendence direction and control of elections
The right to file an election petition directly flows from article 329 and cannot be affected in any manner by the exercise of executive power by the Commission under article 324
In view of the above it is not necessary for us to consider a number of other authorities that were cited before us as they do not appear to be directly on point
It is pertinent to indicate that the High Court fell into an obvious fallacy by acceptance of the position that the direction of the Commission was intended to operate in an uncovered field
When the Act and the Rules prescribed a particular method of voting the Commission could not innovate a new method and contend that use of the mechanical process was not covered by the existing law and therefore did not come in conflict with the law in the field
To sum up therefore the legal and constitutional position is as follows a When there is no Parliamentary legislation or rule made under the said legislation the Commission is free to pass any orders in respect of the conduct of elections
87 b where there is an Act and express Rules made thereunder it is not open to the Commission to override the Act or the Rules and pass orders in direct disobedience to the mandate contained in the Act or the Rules
In other words the powers of the Commission are meant to supplement rather than supplant the law both statute and Rules in the matter of superintendence direction and control as provided by article 324 c where the Act or the Rules are silent the Commission has no doubt plenary powers under article 324 to give any direction in respect of the conduct of election and d where a particular direction by the Commission is submitted to the government for approval as required by the Rules it is not open to the Commission to go ahead with implementation of it at its own sweet will even if the approval of the Government is not given
Apart from the arguments referred to above an alternative argument put forward before us was that even the Rules framed under the Act authorise the Commission to give direction to hold voting by the use of a voting machine and this is covered by section 59 of the Act and Rule 49 of the Rules
This argument merits serious consideration
In the instant case the main grievance of appellant is that the voting by mechanical process was not permissible either under the Act or under the Rules
Reliance was however placed by the appellant on s59 of the Act which runs thus 59
Manner of voting at elections At every election where a poll is taken votes shall be given by ballot in such manner as may be prescribed and no votes shall be received by proxy
 It is obvious that section 59 uses the words ballot in such manner as may be prescribed which means prescribed by the Rules made under the Act
A reference to section 61 of the Act would show that Parliament intended use of ballot paper only for casting of votes
This takes us to rule 49 the relevant part of which may be extracted thus 49
Voting by ballot at notified polling stations 1 Notwithstanding any thing contained in the 88 preceding provisions of this Part the Election Commission may by notification published in the official Gazette at least 15 days before the date or the first of the dates of poll appointed for an election direct that the method of voting by ballot shall be followed in that election at such polling stations as may be specified in the notification
 It was submitted that having regard to the modern and changing conditions of the society a dynamic approach should be made to the interpretation of the aforesaid two legal requirements
The matter does not rest here something could be said for the view that the word ballot  includes voting by machines
Section 59 proceeds to explain its intention in setting up the mode manner and method of voting by prescribing express rules as to how the voting should be done
In this connection reference may be made to Rule 22 which relates to the form of ballot paper and its contents
Rule 23 requires the Returning officer to record on the counterfoil of the ballot paper the electoral roll number of the elector as entered in the marked copy of the electoral roll
Rule 27 refers to the return of ballot paper after an elector has recorded his vote or made his declaration
Rule 30 which prescribes the contents of ballot papers is completely contrary to the concept of ballot by machine
Similarly Rules 33 38 39 and 40 seem to be wholly inconsistent with the mechanical process but seem to adopt the conventional method
As we have already indicated these Rules are binding on the Commission and it cannot by an executive fiat either override them or act contrary to the statutory provisions of the Rules
On a proper and detailed analysis of these Rules it is clear that the Act by framing the Rules completely excluded the mechanical process which if resorted to would defeat in a large measure the mandatory requirements of the Rules
It is a well settled rule of interpretation of statutes that words phrase or sentences of a statute should ordinarily be understood in their natural ordinary popular and grammatical sense unless such a construction leads to absurdity
Mr Jethmalani argued that the word ballot  is wide enough to include the mechanical process and therefore the direction of the Commission falls squarely within the four corners of both section 59 and Rule 49
Reliance was placed on the dictionary meaning of the word ballot  which has been defined in Black s Law Dictionary Fourth Edn at page 182 thus 89 means act of voting usually in secret by balls or by written or printed tickets or slips of paper the system of voting by balls or tickets or by any device for casting or recording votes as by voting machine In Stroud s Judicial dictionary Third Edn however ballot  means votes recorded all ballot papers put into the ballot boxes by the electors p 3239
Stroud therefore does not subscribe to the view of casting of vote through a voting machine and we agree with this view because casting of votes by machine is a mechanical process which has come into existence long after the Act was passed and is not generally invoked in most of the democratic countries of the world
Concise Oxford dictionary defines the word ballot  thus usu
secret voting small ball ticket or paper used in voting votes so recorded lot drawing
 In Webster s Third New International Dictionary Vol 1 at page 168 ballot  is defined thus to obtain a vote from a body of voters the men on the proposal to select by ballot or by the drawing of lots
 It may be mentioned here that the word ballot  has been derived from the word ballot  which existed at a time when there was no question of any system of voting machine
Even in 1951 when the Act was passed or the Rules were made the system of voting by machine was not in vogue in this country
In these circumstances therefore we are constrained to hold that the word ballot  in its strict sense would not include voting by the use of voting machines
Legislatures must be deemed to be aware of the modern tendencies in various democratic countries of the world where the mechanical system has been introduced and if despite the plain meaning of the word ballot  they did not choose to extend the definition given as far back as 1950 it may be safely presumed that the Parliament intended to use the word ballot  in its popular rather than a technical sense
Our view finds a good deal of support from the circumstance that even though the system of voting by mechanical process was submitted to the Government for approval yet the same was declined which shows that the rule making authority was not prepared to switch over to the system of 90 voting by machines perhaps on account of the legal bar as indicated by us
It is rather unfortunate that the Union of India which is a party to this case has taken a very neutral stand by neither supporting nor opposing the direction given by the Commission
Having regard to these circumstances therefore we are clearly of the opinion that according to the law as it stands at present the order of the Commission directing casting of ballot by machines in some of the polling stations as indicated above was without jurisdiction and could not have been resorted to
It was further pointed out by the respondent that the process of voting by machines is very useful as it eliminates a number of drawbacks and expedites to a great extent the declaration of the result of the election by eliminating the process of counting of votes from the ballot boxes
On the other hand the appellant has pointed out a number of defects some of them being of a vital nature which would defeat the electoral process
We would now indicate some of the apparent defects which were pointed out to us by the counsel for the appellant after giving a demonstration of the voting machine before us The absence of a provision for identifying the candidate for whom a void vote has been cast a by impersonating a dead voter b by impersonating an absentee voter c by the genuine voter who tenders a vote after a vote has been cast in his name by an impersonator R 42 d where a vote is void having been cast after closing time R 43 e where the voter has cast votes in more than one booth in the same constituency section 622 f where the voter has cast two votes in two constituencies section 633 g where the voter is disqualified under section 16 of the Act section 624 91 h where an elector marks a ballot paper wrongly for a candidate he loses the right to get a fresh ballot paper for casting his vote correctly R41
The provisions of section 1001d and more so section 101a and b under which by excluding the void votes or votes cast as a result of corrupt practices any other candidate can be declared duly elected as the true representative of the constituency
 On the other hand a number of advantages which could be obtained by using the mechanical process were pointed out by the respondent the sum and substance of which was that despite some defects the electoral process would be expeditious and would cut out a number of delays or mistakes committed at various stages
The fact however remains that if the mechanical process is adopted full and proper training will have to be given to the voters which will take quite some time
However we refrain from making any comments on either the defects or advantages of voting machines because it would be for the Legislature and the Government if it revises its decision at one time or the other to give legal sanction to the direction given by the Commission
For these reasons it is not necessary for us to go into the very detailed notes of arguments submitted by the parties in respect of this aspect of the matter
Lastly it was argued by the counsel for the respondents that the appellant would be estopped from challenging the mechanical process because he did not oppose the introduction of this process although he was present in the meeting personally or through his agent
This argument is wholly untenable because when we are considering a constitutional or statutory provision there can be no estoppel against a statute and whether or not the appellant agreed or participated in the meeting which was held before introduction of the voting machines if such a process is not permissible or authorised by law he cannot be estopped from challenging the same 
For the reasons given above we allow the appeal set aside the election of the respondent with respect to the 50 polling stations where the voting machines were used and we direct a repoll to be held in these 50 polling stations
We however do not touch or disturb the results of the votes secured in the other 34 polling stations which was done in accordance with law viz 92 the use of ballot papers
After the repoll the result of the election would be announced afresh after taking into account the votes already secured by the candidates including the Respondent
We make no order as to costs
In course of argument Mr Sen for the Commission informed us that at eleven elections held under the Act the mechanical device was used and in nine no challenge has been raised
It follows that our judgment will not affect those nine elections in any manner
NVK Appeal allowed


Summary:
The first respondent was elected to the State Legislative Assembly
Voting in the Constituency was by the conventional method provided in the Conduct of Election Rules 1961
the votes cast manually and also by the mechanical process viz the use of electronic  machines
The appellant challenged the election of the first respondent
The trial court upheld the validity of voting by machines and held that the first respondent was duly elected
In appeal to this Court it was contended on behalf of the appellant that voting by mechanical process was not permissible either under the Representation of the People Act 1951 or under the Conduct of Election Rules 1961
Allowing the appeal  HELD 1
The order of the Election Commission directing casting of ballots by machines in some of the polling stations was without jurisdiction and could not have been resorted to
90G 2
When the Representation of the People Act 1951 and the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 prescribed a particular method of voting the Commission could not innovate a new method and contend that use of the mechanical process was not covered by the existing law and therefore did not come in conflict with the law in the field
The Act and the Rules completely excluded the mechanical process which if resorted to would defeat in a large measure the mandatory requirements of the Rules
86G 88F 75 3
a When there is no Parliamentary legislation or rule made under the said legislation the Commission is free to pass any orders in respect of the Conduct of elections
86 H b Where there is an Act and there are express Rules made thereunder it is not open to the Commission is over ride the Act or the Rules and pass orders in direct disobedience to the mandate contained in the Act or the Rules
The Powers of the Commission are meant to supplement rather than supplant the law both statute and Rules in the matter of superintendence direction and Control as provided by Article 324
87A B c Where the Act or the Rules are silent the Commission has no doubt plenary powers under Article 324 to give any direction in respect of the conduct of election
87C d Where a particular direction by the Commission is submitted to the government for approval as required by the Rules it is not open to the Commission to go ahead with implementation of it at its own sweet will even if the approval of the Government is not given
87D 4
It is a well settled rule of interpretation of statutes that words phrases or sentences of a statute should ordinarily be understood in their natural ordinary popular and grammatical sense unless such a construction leads to absurdity
88G 5
Legislatures must be deemed to be aware of the modern tendencies in various democratic countries of the world where the mechanical system has been introduced and if despite the plain meaning of the word ballot  they did not choose to extend the definition given as far back as 1950 it may be safely presumed that Parliament intended to use the word ballot  in its popular rather than a technical sense
89G 6
The word ballot  has been derived from the word ballot  which existed at a time when there was no question of any system of voting by machine
Even in 1951 when the Act was passed or the Rules were made the system of voting by machine was not in vogue in this country
In these circumstances the word ballot  in its strict sense would not include voting by the use of voting machines
89F Sadiq Ali  Anr
vs Election Commission of India  Ors
1972 2 SCR 318 Mohinder Singh Gill  Anr
vs The Chief Election Commissioner New Delhi  Ors and N P Ponnuswami vs Returning Officer Namakkal Constituency  Ors   referred to