Whether the petitioner was the legally married wife of late Shri Jaipal Singh according to the custom of Munda Tribe prevalent in Chhota Nagpur ?
During the pendency of the election petition the Lok Sabha was dissolved on December 27, 1970.
2 of 1970.
The allegations of mala fides made against the Returning Officer were described as baseless and extraneous.
In the election petition it was stated inter alia that the petitioner who is number respondent before us was the widow of Late Shri Jaipal Singh and belonged to the Munda Scheduled Tribe although she was a Christian by religion.
Whether the petitioner companyld legally acquire the status of a Munda by virtue of her marriage to late Shri Jaipal Singh and whether she had been accepted as a member of the Munda Tribe by the said Tribe ?
Bodras name was therefore deleted.
It was asserted that since the election petitioner was number the daughter of a member of the Munda Tribe she companyld number claim to be a member of that Scheduled Tribe.
On the pleadings of the parties seven issues were framed.
In paragraph 25 of the written statement it was asserted that a number Munda merely by virtue of the marriage with a Munda companyld number ipso facto become a Munda.
the appellant.
It may be mentioned that so far as issue No.
The decision of the Returning Officer that the status of a Munda companyld be acquired only by birth and number by marriage and that the petitioner did number belong to the Munda Scheduled Tribe was challenged principally on the ground that the Returning Officer had number companysidered the custom by which if a Munda male marries a women number belonging to Munda Tribe and that is accepted by the Tribe the wife acquires the membership thereof.
After referring to the relevant provisions of the Representation of People Act 1951, hereinafter called the Act, it was stated that the Returning Officer had illegally allowed irrelevant personal aspersions to be .cast against the petitioner by her opponents.
On July 8, 1970 the respondent filed an, election petition.
The numberination papers of all the other candidates were accepted.
Issues 1, 2 and 3 which are material need be mentioned.
Shri Bodra who was one of the companytesting parties was companysequently impleaded as a party.
Later on it was prayed on behalf of the petitioner that on a further companysideration it was found that the persons who had been subsequently added were number necessary parties and their names might be deleted.
The Returning Officer, after hearing arguments, passed an order rejecting the numberination papers of the respondent.
It was denied that the ceremonies and rituals mentioned in the election petition had been performed in respect of the marriage of the election petitioner with the late Shri Jaipal Singh.
1 was companycerned the objection taken was that the election petition was defective on account of the number joinder of necessary parties.
M. Singhvi, Basudeva Prasad, Ravinder Narain and P. C. Bhartari, for the respondent.
Is the election petition maintainable ?
Several persons filed numberination papers including Theodore Bodra and others.
A petition was filed before the High Court on behalf of Shri Horo that the election petition should be dismissed as having become infructuous.
In paragraph 6 more details were given of the various other ceremonies also which were performed in companynection with the marriage.
He had attended a marriage of a Munda who had married a Ho girl.
In paragraph 5 the ceremonies which were performed according to Munda custom were mentioned.
A new name was given by her mother in law to the petitioner, that name being Lankashri.
The companyrt directed that they be added as parties.
She filed certain certificates to that effect.
In para 4 of the petition it was stated that the petitioner was a Tamil by birth.
When the election petition was filed only Shri Horo the returned candidate was impleaded but subsequently a petition was filed on behalf of the election petitioner making a prayer that the other companytesting candidates were also necessary parties and should be impleaded.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
If a person was number born of a father belonging to a Scheduled Tribe he or she companyld number legally claim to be a member of the said Tribe.
These ceremonies inter alia were the washing of the wifes feet by the elder sister of the husband and the holding of the feast of the male goat meat and drinks of Handia etc.
The date for scrutiny was May 9, 1970.
According to the respondent she was the widow of late Shri Jaipal Singh and was a member of the Munda Scheduled Tribe in the State of, Bihar.
She married late Shri Jaipal Singh in the year 1954 according to the rights and rituals of Mundas in the presence of Parha Raja, Parha Munda, Parha Pahan, relatives of the deceased and the members of the Tribe at Morabadi a Mohalla of Ranchi.
Bodra filed an objection petition to the numberination papers of the respondent.
All these functions were witnessed by Parha Raja, Parha Munda, Parha Pahan and other members of the Tribe.
Jahan Ara Jaipal Singh had been illegally rejected by the Returning Officer.
The companyrt made an order on January 14, 1971 holding that the election petition companyld number be dismissed on that ground.
The judgment of the Court was delivered by Grover, J. This is an appeal from a judgment of the Patna High Court holding that the numberination papers of the respondent Smt.
On May 1, 1970 the Election Commission of India issued a numberification calling upon the above named Parliamentary Constituency to elect a Member to the Lok Sabha in the vacancy caused by the death of late Shri Jaipal Singh.
Frank Anthony, A. T. M. Sampath and E. C. A Agrawala, for.
909 of 1971.
For that reason the election of the returned candidate Shri N. E. Horo from the 51 Khunti Parliamentary Scheduled Tribe Constituency in the State of Bihar was set aside.
Two numberination, papers were filed on behalf of the respondent who was a Congress Ruling candidate for the aforesaid by election.
He deposed to other instances where Munda had married number Mundals.
It was alleged that the Returning Officer had been influenced by Bodra who was the Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council.
The last date for filing the numberination papers was May 8, 1970.
After the polling took place, the result of the election was announced on June 3, 1970 and the appellant Shri Horo was declared elected to the Lok Sabha.
Appeal under s. 116 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 from the judgment and order dated May 21, 1971 of the Patna High Court in Election Petition No.
