Representation of the People Act, 1951

The Supreme Court held that a private person may file a complaint under Section 200 CrPC alleging that a candidate gave false information in a nomination affidavit, an offence under Section 125-A of the Representation of the People Act, because Section 195 CrPC does not cover that offence. It corrected the Karnataka High Court's contrary view but left the quashing of the complaint against a Bidar MLA undisturbed, as a conviction was remote (paras 5, 11, 13-14).

The Supreme Court upheld the Madras High Court's dismissal of an election petition against a 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly result because it was presented by the petitioner's counsel, not by the petitioner. Section 81(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires presentation 'by' the petitioner, non-compliance means dismissal under Section 86(1), and the High Court's rule requiring presentation in person is valid (paras 6-7, 18-19, 24).

The Rajasthan High Court rejected, under Order VII Rule 11 CPC, an election petition against the returned candidate for the Hanumangarh Assembly constituency. The petition alleged that 17 criminal cases were not disclosed but gave no FIR numbers, police stations or courts; the Court held that such bald pleadings disclosed no cause of action (paras 31-32, 37, 42, 47-48). A typing error citing non-existent 1967 Rules could be corrected (paras 28-30).

The Rajasthan High Court dismissed in limine a writ petition against a Returning Officer's order accepting a candidate's nomination for the MLA election from Dausa constituency. Improper acceptance or rejection of a nomination is a ground for declaring an election void under Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Section 80 and Article 329(b) allow an election to be questioned only by an election petition (paras 5, 10, 12). The writ court would not examine whether the grounds for acceptance were flimsy or substantial (para 12).

Hearing Arvind Kejriwal's challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court released the Delhi Chief Minister on interim bail till 1 June 2024 because the 18th Lok Sabha elections were under way. The power to grant regular bail includes interim bail, and weighing his particular circumstances, with no conviction, no criminal antecedents and the legality of his arrest pending, gave politicians no special privilege (paras 7, 8, 10, 15, 17-18).

The Supreme Court refused to order paper ballots, VVPAT slips in voters' hands or the counting of every VVPAT slip, finding that the safeguards and data on EVMs gave no basis for the suspicion raised. The voter's right to know that the vote is recorded and counted is not a right to 100% slip counting. It added two safeguards: sealed symbol loading units and engineer checks of burnt memory on request (Khanna J., paras 69, 72, 76).

A five-Judge Constitution Bench unanimously struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 and the Finance Act 2017 amendments that made political donations anonymous, holding that they violate voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a), and that unlimited corporate donations are manifestly arbitrary. SBI was told to stop issuing bonds and give the Election Commission details of bonds bought and encashed since 12.04.2019, for publication (paras 104, 130, 215-216, 219).

The Rajasthan High Court dismissed, with costs, an election petition challenging the election of the returned candidate from the Barmer Parliamentary Constituency in 2019. The petitioner, dismissed from the Indian Police Service on 19.02.2019, had filed his nomination without the Election Commission's certificate under Section 33(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Returning Officer had no option but to reject it, and a certificate issued after scrutiny could not change that (paras 39, 41, 45, 47).

A Constitution Bench held that the Court cannot add a disqualification for legislators, such as the framing of charges, beyond those in Articles 102 and 191 and the Representation of the People Act, nor direct the Election Commission to deny party symbols. To inform voters, it directed candidates and parties to publicise pending criminal cases, and urged Parliament to legislate (paras 22-23, 106-108, 116).