Case: Bhagwan Datta Shastri Vs. Ram Ratanji Gupta &amp; Ors

within a mile from Alhoua. The motor truck used to stop near the polling booth in the school every time."P. W. 75 said -"I canvassed for Shri Achutanand who was Socialist candidate for Assembly and for Sri Bhagwan Dutt Shastri who was Socialist candidate for House of People. Shri Achutanand had got two motor trucks". Achutanand himself has been examined as R. W. 21. While he denied carrying or conveying voters in a motor truck to the polling station on the date of the poll, he admitted that his brother Anjani Kumar and another Bhayya who lived in his village had trucks which were in use during the election and attempted to explain that those trucks were possibly hired by the Government to carry ballot boxes. The Tribunal took all this evidence into consideration and came to a definite finding that motor trucks belonging to Achutanand were used on the polling date for the conveyance of electors to the polling booth. On the evidence, this finding cannot be seriously challenged. But what is strongly urged is that the connection of the use of those trucks with the prospects of the candidature of the appellant is not established and that, at any rate, the link of agency between the appellant and Achutanand along with his workers, who according to the evidence were responsible for the carrying of the voters to the polling booths has not at all been established. It is said that some theory of agency has been assumed on an erroneous view as to what constitutes agency for election purposes and it is urged that the assumption is erroneous in law. It is true that Election Courts have generally accepted a somewhat different standard of proof as regards the question of agency in election matters. It is to be noticed that in the Act the word "agent" has been defined in S. 79(a) as follows:" agent includes an election agent, a polling agent and a counting agent and any person who, on the trial of an election petition or of an offence with respect to any election, is held to have acted as an agent in connection with the election with the knowledge or consent of the candidate."The questions as to the limits of the doctrine of agency in election matters and the exact scope and effect of the statutory definition of agent may require to be carefully considered by this Court when they become necessary in a proper case. These are important questions bearing on the whole structure of elections run on party lines and have not been adequately dealt with in this case. In the present case the finding arrived at by the Tribunal against the appellant in this behalf is based on clear evidence, which may properly form the basis of a positive finding of agency. It is necessary for this purpose to understand the system of the present elections of which evidence has been given by a number of witnesses. R. W. 14 gives evidence as follows:"I have been a member of the Socialist Party since 1949. During the election I was General Secretary of the Mauganj Tehsil Socialist Party. At the time of elections I knew that Bhagwan Dutt Shastri was standing as Socialist candidate. Achutanand was one of the three candidates of the Socialist Party for the Assembly. I was one of those who were in charge of supervision of election campaign on behalf of the Socialist Party. Workers did not canvass for any candidate by name but they canvassed for the party candidates generally. Respondent No. 1 had no worker of his own in his individual capacity .......Ordinarily all expenses in connection with the election of party candidates were incurred out of the party fund."Another witness on behalf of the appellant, R. W. 18, said as follows:"I am acquainted with the workers of the Socialist Party in my constituency. ... They were working for the party candidate as such and not for any one individually. Shastriji was a candidate for the Socialist Party."Achutanand himself as R. W. 21 stated as follows:"In my constituency canvassing and propaganda used to be carried on party lines and not for any individual candidates. Respondent No. 1 had no worker or canvasser in my constituency. Respondent No. 1 got majority of votes because of the extensive propaganda carried on for the Socialist Party and its symbol banyan tree".13.On this evidence it cannot be said that the Election Tribunal was not justified in holding that the carrying of the voters to the polling station in the trucks of Achutanand was with the connivance of the appellant who was a party candidate. That by itself would be enough to bring his case within S. 126(6) of the Act. It is not unreasonable to impute to the candidate the knowledge of the work done by his party in this area and to impute the consequent connivance on his part.This appears from the fact that the return of the election expenses of the appellant at page 78 of the printed record, shows the payment of some amount by the appellant to the Socialist Party for expenses and from the fact that the appellant on the very evidence of his own witnesses had no other independent workers of his own in this area. We are, therefore, satisfied that the finding of the Election Tribunal in this behalf is also well-grounded.14. It follows that in our opinion there is no reason for interfering with the findings of the Election Tribunal relating to the three alleged corrupt practices set out above. On these findings the result arrived at by the Tribunal that the election of the appellant should be set aside by virtue of S. 100 (2)(b) of the Act must be sustained.15. In this view it is unnecessary to deal with the findings of the Tribunal relating to the rejection of the nominations of Baboo Lal Udani, Deep Narain and Rajkishore Shukla and to consider the two important questions of law raised therein.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]Thus, out of the four findings of the Tribunal against the appellant above set out, three relate to alleged corrupt practices and the fourth relates to the alleged wrongful rejection ofthere can be no doubt that the requirement of full particulars is of paramount importance, in cases of this kind as in cases of the ordinary courts based on allegations of fraud or undue influence. But unlike the one in the above decision of this Court relied upon, in which the question that arose was as to the validity of an order dismissing the entire election petition on the preliminary ground of absence of particulars, the question in this case is different. This is a case where notwithstanding the absence of particulars, the evidence was allowed to be given and taken. The question in such a case would not be one of absence of jurisdiction but as to whether there has been any material prejudice occasioned by the absence of particulars.It is in that light that the validity of the objection raised by the appellant in this behalf before us has to be judged. It is, therefore, necessary to scrutinise the nature of the evidence on which this finding had been arrived at and to see whether the appellant had a fair opportunity of meeting it. The finding is based upon the printed pamphlet, Ex. P-3, and on the evidence of P. Ws. 10, 11, 12 and 73. Ex. P-3 is a pamphlet which, as the election petition shows, was an enclosure to that petition itself, when filed before the Election Commission. The pamphlet itself purports to have been signed by three individuals, Sukh Sen Raj Gond, Thakur Din Raj Gond, Bharosa Raj Gond, and shows on the face of it Kumar Printing Works, Daraganj, Prayag, as the printers. P. W. 73 is the Proprietor of Kumar Printing Works. Itappears also from the record that on 5-1-1953, a number of interrogatories were served on the appellant on behalf of the election petitioners out of which the following may beactual recording of evidence commenced on the 13th April, 1953, subsequent to the exchange of these interrogatories and their answers. Since the finding with reference to this allegation is based, as above stated, on the pamphlet which is attached to the petition and on the evidence of witnesses whose names were specifically mentioned in the interrogatories, it is fairly clear that no prejudice would have been caused to the appellant by the non-furnishing of particulars in the very election petition itself. This objection, therefore, has no substance.10. That Ex. P-3 contains matter of the kind which would come within the scope of S. 123(2) of the Act has not been disputed. But it is urged that the evidence of the four witnesses relied upon is open to serious objections. This evidence is to the following effect.(1) The pamphlet Ex. P-3 was printed in the press of P. W. 73 with reference to a manuscript given to him by the appellant, Bhagwan Datt Shastri and another person, Joshi, both of whom placed the order with him for printing the pamphlets and that the original typed matter given to him contained the signature of the appellant and that the counter-foil No. 178-A of his bill-book related to the bill relating to this job work in his press.(2) Pamphlets of which Ex. P-3 was a specimen were distributed by red-capped Socialist Party workers in some villages of the constituency. The correctness of these findings has been seriously challenged. It was strenuously urged that the appellant was not given adequate opportunity to meet and rebut additional evidence taken from P. W. 73 at a later date with reference to an alleged mistake in his previous evidence as regards the date of the counter-foil above mentioned. We have been taken through the evidence relating to this alleged corrupt practice. It is enough to say that we are satisfied that there is no room for the grievance that adequate opportunity for rebutting the further evidence of P. W. 73 was not given. We are of the opinion that no sufficient reason is available for not accepting the conclusions of the Tribunal. The said conclusions are (1) that the pamphlet, Ex. P-3 was distributed within the constituency by some persons, (2) that this pamphlet was got printed by the appellant himself, inasmuch as it was he that placed the order along with another person, Joshi, with the Proprietor of the printing press, P. W. 73, and (3) that the original of the pamphlet bore the appellants signature when given to him for appellants signature when given to him for printing. On the facts so found, the Tribunal was justified in coming to the conclusion they did that the appellant must be taken to have been directly responsible for the distribution of these pamphlets and therefore for the commission of this item of corrupt practice. The further conclusion relating to this item that the distribution of pamphlet, Ex. P-3, was by Socialist Party Workers, who on the evidence in the case were in the position of agents for the appellant has been also seriously challenged both as a fact and in law. On the facts above found, this was not essential so far as this item is concerned and will be noticed with reference to the third item, since the conclusion in this behalf is based on evidence which is virtually common to all the threeis supported by the evidence of a large number of witnesses, viz., P. Ws. 28, 47, 48, 50, 51, 64, 66, 67, 73 and 75. P. W. 73 who has spoken to Ex. P-3 above noticed, has given exactly the same evidence as regards Ex. P-6 and that evidence has been accepted in toto by the Tribunal. The evidence of the other witnesses above mentioned which has been accepted by the Tribunal makes out distribution of this pamphlet within the constituency by the workers of the Socialist Party. The attack on this finding arrived at by the Tribunal is virtually the same as that which related to the evidence connected with the printing and distribution of Ex. P-3. That the last portion of Ex. P-6 falls within the prohibited category has not been disputed. As regards this item, there is no scope for the complaint that full particulars have not been furnished since the necessary particulars have all been set out in list D mentioned with reference to paragraph 13 of the petition. There is, therefore no room for any further challenge in regard to this item. In passing it may be noticed, that in so far as this is a minor corrupt practice, it does not depend upon any question of the act complained of being done by the candidate directly or by his agent or with their connivance. But it has been held by the Tribunal - and not challenged before us - that the matter in this pamphlet is also such as to fall within proviso (a)(i) and (ii) to S. 123(2) of the Act constituting a major corrupthas been seriously challenged before us. It falls within the scope of S. 123(6) of the Act, viz., the hiring or procuring of any vehicle for the conveyance of electors to or from any polling station. This item formed the subject of issue No. 6 before the Tribunal. The allegations are contained in paragraph 14 of the petition and the particulars were furnished in list E annexed thereto. The main item of allegation relating to this matter is that, in paragraph 2 of the list, viz., on the 11th January, 1952 (one of the polling dates) a motor truck belonging to Achutanand brought electors from the villages of Amalak and Jurmaniya to Alhua polling station (and that the electors were so brought) by Achutanand of village Dhera (and his co-workers). Evidence was given on behalf of the petitioners in the election petition that the voters were being carried from some of the villages in the constituency to the polling station in motor trucks and that those trucks were of Achutanand who stood as a candidate for the Socialist Party for the local Assembly seat of the same constituency, for which the poll took place simultaneously in the same pollingquestions as to the limits of the doctrine of agency in election matters and the exact scope and effect of the statutory definition of agent may require to be carefully considered by this Court when they become necessary in a proper case. These are important questions bearing on the whole structure of elections run on party lines and have not been adequately dealt with in this case. In the present case the finding arrived at by the Tribunal against the appellant in this behalf is based on clear evidence, which may properly form the basis of a positive finding of agency. It is necessary for this purpose to understand the system of the present elections of which evidence has been given by a number ofthis evidence it cannot be said that the Election Tribunal was not justified in holding that the carrying of the voters to the polling station in the trucks of Achutanand was with the connivance of the appellant who was a party candidate. That by itself would be enough to bring his case within S. 126(6) of the Act. It is not unreasonable to impute to the candidate the knowledge of the work done by his party in this area and to impute the consequent connivance on his part.This appears from the fact that the return of the election expenses of the appellant at page 78 of the printed record, shows the payment of some amount by the appellant to the Socialist Party for expenses and from the fact that the appellant on the very evidence of his own witnesses had no other independent workers of his own in this area. We are, therefore, satisfied that the finding of the Election Tribunal in this behalf is also well-grounded.14. It follows that in our opinion there is no reason for interfering with the findings of the Election Tribunal relating to the three alleged corrupt practices set out above. On these findings the result arrived at by the Tribunal that the election of the appellant should be set aside by virtue of S. 100 (2)(b) of the Act must be sustained.15. In this view it is unnecessary to deal with the findings of the Tribunal relating to the rejection of the nominations of Baboo Lal Udani, Deep Narain and Rajkishore Shukla and to consider the two important questions of law raised therein.