K. M. MANI ETC. versus P. J. ANTONY AND OTHERS

Citation: [1979] 1 S.C.R. 701 · Decided: 12-09-1978 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 2 judgment(s) · cites 3 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

\ 
\ 
; 
J 
•• 
K. M. MANI ETC. 
v. 
P. J. ANTONY AND OTHERS 
September 12, 1978 
[S. l'v!URTAZA FAZAL ALI AND P. N. SHJNGHAL, JJ.] 
7 0 I 
Representation of the People Act 1951-Sec. 123(7)__;;_Allegation that Police 
Officer addrt•ssed an election nieeting for furtherance of candidate's election-
1 
U'hether corrupt practice. 
A 
B 
Practice & Procedure-Election cases-Pleadb1gs & Proof-An allegation of 
corrupt prllcticc to be established beyond reasonable doubt-Addressing nieeting-
Allegation of corru'pt practice-No doc1anentary evidence produced-Transcript 
C 
of speech or conten1poraneous record of speech-If should be produced. 
Section 123(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 provides, 
among others, that the obtaining or procuring by a candidate of any assistance 
(other tha·n giving of vote) for the furtherance of the pro.spects of that candi~ 
date's election from any person in the service of the Government is a corrupt 
practice. 
D 
The appeliant in Civil Appeal No. 99 of 1978 \Vho was declared elected to 
1he State Assembly in the General Elections of 1977 \Vas a Minister of the 
State Government at the tin1e of election. The appellant in Civil Appeal No. 
i9 of 1978 was a Police Officer belonging to the Indian Police Service posted 
as Commissioner of Police at that time. The first respondent in both cases was 
an elector in the constituency. All the three were Roman Catholics. 
In his election petition respondent No. 1 alleged that, at the instance of the 
-first appellant or with his knowledge and consent, the Police Officer assisted the 
convening of a meeting of the priests of the various parishes of the Roman 
Catholic Church at the Bishop's house which was presided over by the Bishop 
for the furtherance of the appeilant's victory in the election. The Police (>fticer 
wais alleged to have exhorted them to work for the appellant's victory as it was 
in the interest of the Church and community. The first appellant was 
also 
.alleged to be at the meeting. The respondent alleged that this constituted a 
corrupt practice within the me~ning of s. 123(7) of the Act. 
The High Court declared the election void. In addition it declared that 
the Police Officer was guilty of corrupt practice. 
E 
F 
On appeal the appellant contended ( i) that the High Court was in error in 
G 
·holding that the appellant had committed a corrupt practice within the meaning 
of the section and (ii) that the election petition was not maintainable for 
-vagueness of the pleadings in paragraph 5 of the election petition. 
Allowing the appeal : 
HELD : !. There is no direct evidence to prove that the Police Officer went 
to attend the meeting at the Bishop's house at the instance of the appellant and 
spoke there at his instance and as the· circumstantial evidence produced 
was 
inadequate to reach that conclusion the High Court was wrong in holding that 
H 
702 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1979] l s.c.R. 
A 
the appellant obtained and procured the· services of the Police Officer in 
fur-
therance of the prospects of his election and 
thereby 
committed a 
corrupt 
practice under s. 123(7) of the Act. 
[721B·C] 
B 
c 
D 
E 
2. An allegation regarding the commission of a corrupt 
practice at an 
election is a very serious matter not only for the candidate but for the public 
at !arge as it relates to the purity of the electoral process. 
[712H] 
3(a) An allegation regarding the commission of a corrupt practice is in the 
nature of a quasi-criminal proceeding which has to 
be 
established 
beyond 
reasonable doubt and not merely by preponderance of probabilities. 
17 L~C] 
3(b) The election petitioner must exclude every hypothesis except that of 
guilt on the pa.rt of the returned candidate or his election agent. The trial 
court erred in basing its finding on a mere probability. 
[720FJ 
R. M. Seshadri v. G. Vasantha Pai [1969] 2 SCR 
1019; 
Bhagwan Datta 
Shastri v. I~atn Ratanji Gupta & Others AIR 1960 SC 200; 
Ba/want Sing/1 v. 
Prakash Chand & Ors. [1976] 3 SCR 335 referred to. 
4. The High Court was right in holding that there was no sufficient evidence 
to substantiate the allegation that the Police Officer went to the place of nlcet-
ing at the appellant's instance to assist him in convening the meeting in further-
ance of his prospects in the election. 
It therefore rightly considered the other 
question \Vhether he addressed that meeting. 
[710F-G} 
5. The High Court \Vas not justified in reaching the 
conclusion 
t

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