KULTAR SINGH versus MUKHTIAR SINGH

Citation: [1964] 7 S.C.R. 790 · Decided: 17-04-1964 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: P.B. GAJENDRAGADKAR · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 7 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

1961 
April 17 
790-
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1964] 
KULTAR SINGH 
v. 
MUKHTIAR SINGH 
(P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, C. J., K. N. WANCHOO, M. HIDAYAT· 
ULLAH, K. C. DAS GUPTA AND N. RAJAGOPALA AYYAN· 
GAR, JJ.) 
. 
Representation of the People Act, 1951 \43 of 1951) s. 123(3)-
Election Petition-Allegation of publication and d1strtbutwn 
of posters contain~:tg an appeal to voters to vote on the ground 
of religion-If amounts to corrupt practice-Word "panth". 
w;ed in the Pamphlet-Meaning of-
The respondent challenged the appellant's election before 
the Tribunal alleging that it was void inasmuch as for the pur· 
'pose of securing votes the appellant had appealed to his religion 
and had thereby committed a corrupt practice. He had address-
ed seven election meetings and in those meetings he and his 
supporters had asked the voters to vote for him as he was the 
proper representative of the Sikh Panth, and so, he would be 
able to protect the Sikh religion and the Sikh language. It was 
further alleged that at five of the seven election meetings orga-
nised by him, the printed posters (Exts. p. 1 to p. 10) had been 
distributed by him and they contained an appeal to the voters 
to vote for him on the ground of his religion. The appellant 
denied both these allegations. He disputed the respondent's case 
that at these meetings any appeal to religion was made. In 
regard to the posters, he denied that he had anything to do 
with the said posters, except one Ext. p. 9 and pi~aded that the 
said poster was innocent and its publication .and distribution 
would not attract the provisions of s. 123(3) of the Act. Both 
these questions were answered by the Tribunal in favour of the 
respondent. On appeal, the High Court reversed the conclusion 
of the Tribunal on the first question. In regard to the pcs\"ers, 
it held that all the ten posters had been distributed by him, 
but, in its opinion, except Ext. p. 10, none of the others ofTenried 
the provisions of s. 123(3f of the Act. In regard to poster Ext. 
p, 10. however, it agreed with the conclusion of the Tribunal 
and held that the said poster contained an appeal to the votes 
to vote for the appellant on the ground of his religion. and so, 
by publishing and distributing it at his election meetings. he 
had committed a corrupt practice under s. 123(3) of the Act. 
In this Court the appellant contended that the view taken by 
the Election Tribunal and the High Court was based on a mis-
construction of the impugned pamphlet. 
Held: In considering the question as to whether a parti-
. cular appeal made by a candidate falls within the mischief of 
-
s. 12~(3f of the Act, courts should not be astute to read into the 
words used in the appeal anything more than can be attributed 
to them on its fair and reasonable construction. 
The view taken by the High Court and the Tribunal was 
inconsistent with a fair and reasonable construction of the 
impugned poster. In fact, the High Court did not consider the 
di!Terent places in the poster where the word "Panth" had been 
used ;md no attempt was made to co-relate these sentences and 
to enquire whether the meaning attributed by the High Court 
7 S.C.R. 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
791 
to the· \\'m·d "Panth" was justified in regard to all the sentences 
In which that word occurred. 
. 'l'he significance of the reference to the Punjabi Suba in 
the impugned poster arises from the fact that it giv'Cs clue to 
the meaning which the poster intended to assign to the word 
"Panth". Therefore, the word "Panth" in this poster did not 
mean. Sikh religion and so, it would not be possible to accept 
the view that by distributing this poster, the appellant had ap-
pealed to voters to vote for him because of his religion. 
In construin~ the impugned poster, the High Court did not 
take into account the oral evidence. !t is true that oral evi-
dentc wo~1ld not be of any mate11ial assistance in construing 
the. words in the 
pamphlet; but. the wcrd "Panth" used in 
six places in the pamphlet could be properly interpreted only 
to mean the Akali Dal party and it was in that context that 
the statements made by the witnesses as to the name bv which 
the Akali Dal Party was known in popular minds, might have 
some relevance. 
Sardul. Singh Caveesliar v. Hukam Sing/1, (1953) VT. E. 
L. R. 316 and Baba Gurdit Singh v. Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, 
Indian Election Cases by Doabia. Vol. I. p, 92, referred to. 
Political issues which form the subject-ma.tlr'r of contr

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