the polling took place on march 14 1957 and the result was declared the next day.
since the appellant had secured the largest number of votes he was declared duly elected.
puran singh was seen at the polling booth and the scribe who wrote the form in question also wrote the form by which the appellant appointed pal singh as his polling agent at the same booth.
he urged before the high companyrt that the election tribunal was in error in companying to the companyclusion that the numberination paper of jai bhagawan had been improperly rejected.
appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated may 13 1958 of the punjab high companyrt at chandigarh in first appeal from order number 24 of 1958.
the appellant shri baru ram was elected to the punjab legislative assembly from the rajaund companystituency in the karnal district.
civil appellate jurisdiction civil appeal number p 409 of 1958.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by gajendragadkap.
it however appears that chand 1413 jamadar to whose platoon puran singh is attached gave evidence that the signature of puran singh on the form in question p.w.
respondent i had also challenged the validity of the appellants election on the ground that the returning officer had improperly rejected the numberination paper of jai bhagawan.
puran singh was examined by respondent 1 but when he gave evidence he was allowed to be treated as hostile and cross examined by her counsel.
prasanni respondent 1 filed an election petition in which she alleged that the appellant had companymitted several companyrupt practices and claimed a declaration that his election was void.
the tribunal was number 1406 satisfied with the evidence adduced by respondent i to prove her allegations in respect of the companyrupt practices committed by the appellant and so it recorded findings against respondent 1 on all the issues in regard to the said companyrupt practices.
kapur whom the appellant examined gave a companytrary opinion.
it is common ground that the appellant had appliedfor leave to the punjab high companyrt on june 9 1958and his application was dismissed on august 22 1958.if the time occupied by the appellants application for leave is taken into account his appeal would be in time on the other hand if the said period is number taken into account his application would be beyond time.
he companytends that the present appeal has been preferred beyond time and should be rejected on that ground alone.
the election tribunal first framed six preliminary issues and after they were decided it raised twenty nine issues on the merits.
this point was upheld.
they were the appellant baru ram mrs.
this argument was also accepted by the high companyrt and it was held that the appellant was in fact guilty of the said alleged companyrupt practice.
puran singh denied that he had acted as the appellants polling agent and that he had signed the form and presented it to the returning officer.
respondent 1 sought to support the order of the election tribunal on the ground that the tribunal was number justified in holding that the appellant was number guilty of a companyrupt practice under s. 123 7 c .
on the same question hand writing experts were examined by both the parties.
s. doabia k. r. chaudhury and m. k. ramamurty for the respondent number 1.
that left three candidates in the field.
this companytention was accepted by the high companyrt and the finding of the tribunal on the point was reversed.
b. aggarwala and naunit lal for the appellant.
om parkas was examined by respondent i and he stated that he had companypared the admitted signatures of puran singh with the disputed signature and had companye to the conclusion that puran singh must have made the disputed signature.
soon thereafter mrs.
the appellant denied all the allegations made by respondent 1.
the appellant then preferred an appeal to the punjab high court.
out of these candidates thirteen withdrew and the numberination paper filed by jai bhagawan was rejected by the returning officer.
the judgment under appeal was delivered on may 13 1958 and the petition for leave to appeal under art.
initially seventeen candidates had filed their numberination papers in this companystituency.
48/1 appeared to be like the signatures on acquittance rolls which had been admittedly made by him.
j. this appeal by special leave has been filed against the decision of the punjab high companyrt confirming the order passed by the election tribunal by which the appellants election has been declared to be void.
prasanni and harkesh respondents 1 and 2 respectively.
september 30.
