New Delhi, Nov 26: Coming down heavily on a defeated candidate for seeking recounting of votes in a Punjab assembly elections on false grounds, the Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him while dismissing his petition. Justifying the imposition of the fine, a bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice D M Dharmadhikari said unless such deterrent action was taken, the attempts to pollute the judicial process would be made through frivolous petitions.
In election petitions filed with prayer for recount of votes, the court had always insisted upon a high standard of proof or grounds as would persuade the court to grant the prayer, Justice Dharmadhikari, writing for the bench, said.
"Where false facts are pleaded and false evidence is produced to mislead the court into interfering with the people's verdict of election, the misconduct of the parties to the election has to be viewed seriously," he said.
Referring to the case in which Kishan Pal defeated Mahendra Pratap from Mewala Maharajpur assembly constituency, the bench said despite the returning officer's endorsement that application for recount was filed after results were declared, Pratap had tried to make out a point that it was filed prior to the declaration of the results. Bureau Report