K. L. Gupta v. A. N. Chawla & Ors.

259 A B ##### c D E F G H ously the largest contributions would be from the rich and the affluent who consti· tute but a fraction of the electorate. It is likely that some elected representatives would tend to share. the views of the wealthy supporters of their political parcy, either because of shared backj!fOund and association, increased access or subtle influences which condition their thinking. In such an event, the result would be 'that though ostensibly the political parties which receive such contributions may - profess an ideology acceptable to the common man, they would in effect and substance be the representatives, of a certain economic class, and their policies and decisions would be shaped by the interests of that economic class. Persons of a particular class wl'.lo have eitclusive governmental power, even if they tried to act objectively, would tend to overlook the interests of other classes or view those interests dif. ferently. To this natural tendency may be added the fact that office bearers and elected representatives may quite possibly be inclined, though unconsciously and imperceptibly, to espouse the policies and decisions that will attract campaign contributions from affluent individuals and groups. Pre-election donations would be likely to operate as post-election promises resulting ultimately in the casualty of the interest of the common man. The small man's chance is the essence of Indian - democracy and th .. at would be stultified if large contributions from rich and affluent . Individuals or groups are not divorced. from the electoral process. KANWAR LAL GuPTA _v._ AMAR NATH CHAWLA & ORS.· _October_ 3, 1974 [P. N. BHAOWATI AND R. S. SARKAlUA J.J.] , . · _Representation_ _of_ _the_ _People_ _Act_ (43 _of_ 1951) _ss._ 77(1) _and_ 123(6)-&· _penses_ _incurred_ _by_ _party_ _sponsoring_ _candidate_ _in_ _excess_ _of_ _the_ _prescribed limit-If_ _aild_ _when_ _a corrupt practice-Reform of election_ _law_ _suggested._ ,. Section 77(1) of the Representation of the People Act, ·1951, provides that every candidate at an election shall, either by himself or by his election agent, keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure,· in connection with the election, _Incurred_ or· _authorised_ by him or by his election agent between the date of the pubJi. cation of the notification calling the election and the date of declaration of result thereof, botli dates inclusive; and s. 77(3) says that the total of the said expenditure shall not exceed such amount as may be preScribed. Tho objects of enacting a ceiling on the expenditure which may legitimately .be incurred in connection with an election are : .. _(a)_ It should be open to any individual or to any political parcy, however small, to be able to contest an election on a footing of equality with any other indi• vidual or political party, however rich and well financed it may be, and no indivi· dual or political party should be able to secure an advantage over others by reason of its superior financial strength. The democratic process can function efficiently and effectively, for the benefit of the common good and reach ·out the benefits of &elf-government to the commo.n man only if it brings about a participatory democracr in which every man, howsoever lQwly or. humble he may be, should be able _to_ participate on a footing. of eq_uality witll others. Now money plays an important part in the successful prose<;11tion of an election campaign by buying advertisement and canvassing facilitieS, by providing the means for quick and speedy communi· cations and movements and sophisticated campaign techniques, and also by the emploxroent of paid workers where volunteers 1¥re found to be insufficient. Therefore, if one political party or indiVidual has larger resources available to it than another the former would certainly, under the present system Of conducting elect· ions, have an .advantage over the latter in t~e electoral process. [265C-F] - · · (b) The other objective _at_ limiting expenditure is to eliminate, as far as pos sible, the influence of big money in electoral process. If there were no limit on expenditure political parties would go all out for eollecting contributions and obvi· 2-M255SupCit7S [266E-P, 267C·D, E-P, o-Hl 260 SUPREME, COURT Rl!POR.TS [1975) 2 S._Q.R,, Under &, 123(6) not only fo the _lnc11rrlng_ of expendlture In excess of the pres. crlbed limit a corrupt practice but also the _author/1/111 ot_ such expenditure. Autho· rlslna: may be lmj>lied or express, and whether a particular expenditure was lmpll~dly authorued by the candidate would depend upon the facts and circumstances of eacl:T case as appearing frorn the evidence adduced before the court. [264H·26SB] The reasonable interpretation of the provision, which would carry out Its object and lntendment and suppress the mischief and advance the remedy' by purifying the election process· and ridding it of the perilicious and baneful influence of big money, is, that the legislature could never have intended that what the individual candidate cannot do the political parties sponsoring him, or his friends and supporters, should be free to do. When a political party sponsoring a candidate incurs expenditure specifically _in_ _connection_ _with_ _his_ _election,_ as distinguished from eJ1Penditure _on_ _general_ _party_ _propaganda,_ and the candidate knowingly takes advanta~ ·Of it or participates in the programme or activity or consents to it or acquiesces in it, it would be reasonable to infer, save in special circumstances, that he _impliedly_ _authorised_ the political party to incur such expenditure; and he cannot escape the rigour of the ceiling by saying that he has not incurred expenditure but his political party· has done so. The party candidate does not stand apart from his political party and if the political party does not want its candidate·to incur the disquaJifi. cation it must exercise control over the expenditure which may· be incurred by it _directly_ to promote the poll prospects of the candidate. The same proposition must hold good In case of expenditure Incurred by friends and supporters directly in co11nection with the election of the candidate. lf a candidate were to be subject to the limitation of the cellina: but the/olltlcal party sponsorlna: him or his friends and 'supporters were to be free to spen as much as they like in connection with his election, the object of .imposins a ceiling would be completely frustrated and the benefleent provision enacted in the Interest of purity and genwneness of the demo· . cratlc process would be wholly emasculated. [268A·FJ _Ranajaya_ _Slngh.v._ _Baijnath_ _Singh_ & _Ora._ [1955] 1 S.C.R. 671, _Ram_ _Dayal_ v. _BrljrQJ Singh_ & _OrB._ [1970] 1 S.C'.R. 530, _Magraj P11todla_ v. _R._ _K._ _Bir/a_ & _Ors._ [1971] 2 S.C.R. 118 and _B._ _Rajagopala Rao_ v. _N._ _G._ _Rangti,_ A.l.R. 1971 S.C. 266, referred to. In the present case, the fjrst respondent's election to the Lok Sabha was challenged by the petitioner on various grounds, one of which was that the first respondent _Incurred or authorised_ expenditure in excess of the prescribed ·Jimit of Rs. 10,000 in contravention of s. 77 and committed corrupt practice under s. 123(6). The High Court dismissed the election petition. Allowing the appeal to this Court, _Beld_ : (I) The total ex.penditure proved to have been _Incurred_ _or_ _authorised_ by the first respondent exceeded the prescribed limit and therefore his election snould be set aside on the ground of corrupt practice defined ins. 123(6). [316F] _(a)_ A chart was furnished to the ~titioner giving Information as to the dates and places of the public meetingli held in connection with the election of the first respondent and the names of the speakers wh<> spoke at those public meetings. This chart we.!: prepared in compliance with the directions of the trial court from the official records in the possession of the J.G. of Police. Therefore it is relevant and admissible in evidence under the first part of s. 35 of the Evidence Act. Though it is a weak type of evidence, and standing by itself cannot be regarded sullicient to establish thi~ holding of a public meeting by the first respondent, it can be relied upon as a corroborative piece of evidence which ll)ay be considered along with other ·evidence in the case. The oral evidence thus corroborated, disclosed that in addi tion to the 23 public meetings admitted by the first respondent, 9 further public meetings were held on his behalf at v.arious places. The first respondent not only. suppressed the expenditure on these nine additional public meetings, but, also he suppressed the real expenditure on the admitted 23 public meetings. [281G-282C, G-283A, 293A·C, 301A-l3] (b) If the Court comes to the conclusion that an item of exj>eDditure hbs. been suppressecl in the return of election expenses, the mere fact that there is no sufficient evideI1ce about the amount that must have been spent is no ground for iJnorina the matter. It is the duty of the Court to _assess_ all expenses as best as it A B ##### c D E F G H A B ##### c D E G H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati;_ /.) 261 can though the court should not enter into the reiiion of speculation or nierely try to guess the amount that must have been spent. Generally it would be possible to arrive at an amount of expenditure on a conservative basis, and where it is possible to arrive at such an estimate, such estimated amount should be held as not shown by the candidate in his election account. [300E-G] _Magraf Patadia_ v. _R._ _K._ _Bir/a_ & _Ors._ [1971] 2 S.C.R. 118 -and _P._ _C._ _P._ _Reddiar_ v. _S._ _Perumal,_ [1972] 2 S.C.R. 646 referred to. (c) The first respondent owned the responsibility for expenses in respect of the 23 public meetings admitted by him. He also admitted in his evidence that he "bore the expenses of all the election meetings in my constituency". Therefore,. there is no scope fot the argument that the expenses of any of these additional 9 public meetings were met by any· organisation or individual other than the first respondent. Even if the expenses of some of these nine public meetings were .incurred by the District Pradesh Congress Committee or any other branch of the Congress organisation which sponsored his candidature, or by any other friend _ot_ supporter, such expenses must be held to have been _authorised_ by the first respondent because, he knowingly took advantage of such public meetings by _participating_ _in_ _them_ and consented to, or at any rate, acquiesced in such expenses. [292E-H] (2) Ii is not uncommon to find that during elections, posters and handbills . are printed without complying with the requirement of section 127A, and some-. times containing scandalous material about rival candidates. There should there· fore be some independent semi-judicial instrumentality set up by law, which. would immediately investigate, even while the election fever is on and propaganda and· canvassing are in. progress and the evidence is raw and fresh, how the offending handbills and poste~ have come into existence. [314A-D] _Rahim Khan_ v. _Khurshid Ahmed_ & _Ors._ C.A. 816 of 1973, decided on August 8, 1974, followed. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTIO~ : Civil Appeal No. 1549 of 1972. Appeal from the Judgment & Order dated the 19th May, 1972 of the D~lhi High Court in E.P. No. 2of1971. _S._ _N .._ _Marwaha,_ _A._ _K._ _Marwaha_ and _K._ _C._ _Dua,_ for the appellant. _M._ _N._ _Phadke,_ _V._ _P._ _Nanda,_ _N._ _S._ _Dass_ _Bahl_ and _D._ _N._ _Mishra,_ for respondmt No. L The Judgment of the Court was delivered by - BHAGWATI, J.~The controversy in this appeal relates to the validity of election to the Lok Sabha from the Sadar Parliamentary Cc.nstituency in the Union Territory of Delhi. Eleven candidates originally offered themselves for election from this constituency but out c,f them six withdrew their candidature with the· result tliat c nly five rc:mained in the field as contesting .cand:dates. They were the petitioner and respond~nts Nos. 1 to 4. The petitioner was put up as a candidate by the Jan Saugh, while the candidature .of the first respondent wa~ sponsored by the Congress, which at that time, on account of the spht in the organisation was known as the ruling Congress or the new Congress. RP.spondmts Nos. 2 to 4 were ind,~pendent candidates. Though there were nominally five candidates, the real coi;itest was between the petitioner and the first respondent. The pollmg tcok place on 5th March, 1971 and the result of the poll was declared on 11th March, 1971. The petitioner secured 55305 votes, while the first SUPRBME COURT Rl!PORTS [1975] 2 s.p.1. respondent polled 98108 votes. The first respondent thus won by a large !lllljority and was declared elected. The petitioner thereupon filed an election petition challenging the validity of the election of the first respondent on various grounds. The election petition was contested by the first respondent and, as the voluminous mass of record shows, it was fought out _to_ a bitter and with great industry and thoroughness on both sides. Mr. Justice Andley of the Delhi High Court, who heard the election petition, found in an elaborate judgment that none of the grounds on which the election was sought to be invalidated was established and he accordingly dismissed the election petition with costs. The present appeal preferred by the petitioner impugns this judgment of Mr. Justice Andley. The election petition wa.c; based on numerous grounds which were summarised in paragraphs and subseq\lently el11borated in paragraphs 12, 14, 18 to 21and24 to 26. The ground set out in paragraph 12 was that the elector rolls, on the basis of which the election had been held, were imperfect and defective, and that vitiated the election. Paragraph 14 alleged the invalidity of the amendment in rule _56_ of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 and paragraphs 18 and 19 challenged the· validity of the election on the ground that about a lac or more ballot papers, which had been chemically_ trQated, were fraud'Ulently introduced and that had materially affected the result of'the election. The charge in paragraphs 20 and 21 was that the first respondent was guilty of corrupt practice, in that the first respondent, his election agent and othe~ parsons with his consent, including the first respondent, had printed and published a handbill· an8 a poster, containing statements in relation to.the personal character or conduct of the petitioner which were false and which the first respondent did no~ believe to be true, and which were reasonably calculated to prejudice the prospects of the petitioner's election .. Paragraph 24 also charged a similar corrupt practice on the aHegation that these statements were repeated by the first a.nd the fifth res.pondents in' public meetings as also during the course of canvassing. And lastly, it was alleged in· paragraphs _25_ a~d 26 that the first res~ndei;it ~ad, incurred or ~uthorised expendi· ture m exce~s of the prescnbed hllllt of Rs. 10,000 m contravention of section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. These were broadly the grounds on which the election of the first respondent was sought to be declared void by the petitioner. Though the first, sec1:>nd and fifth respondents filed their respective written statements, the collitest was only on behalf of the first and fifth respondents. The second respondent supported the petitioner·: his support was however n.ot of much value sinr.e he did not take any active part in the petition. Respondents 3 and 4 were obviously not interes~ed in the petition and they did not even care to appear or file any written statement. The first and fifth respondents raised in their written statements certain preliminary objections and also denied the various allegations made in the petition and contested the grounds on which the petitioner claimed to set .aside the election of the first respondent. We shall deal with the contents of these written state 111CDtS ~ little later whiin we examine tho specific charges levelled agains A B ##### c D E F G H A B ##### c D le. L. GtJPTA _v,_ A· N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwad,_ /,) 26 3 the first respondent.. Suffice it to state for the present that on the basis of the preliminary objections raised in the written staiements, the learned. Trial Judge framed four preliminary issues and they were decided by an order dated 6th August, 1971. So far as the first preliminary issue is concerned, the learned Trial Judge held that paragraphs 9, 12, 18 to 21 and 24 to 26·did not suffer from lack of concise statement of material facts, but they did not give full particulars of the allegations and. he accordingly. directed . the petitioner to furnish further )'articulars with respect to paragraphs 18 to 21, 24 and 25 as specified m the . schedule to the order. The second and the fourth preliin.inary issues do not survive for consideration : they were decided against the petitioner and the petitioner· does not challenge the decision in appeal. The third preliminary issue was decided in favour of the petitioner but it is now meaningless to discuss it because the petitioner is not pressing the ground set out in paragraohs 18 and 19 in support of the appeal. Pursuant to the aforesaid. order dated .6th August, 1971, the petitioner furnished particulars of the allegations contained in paragraphs 18 to 21, 24 and 25 by an affidavit dated 19th August, 1971. A reply to these particulars was given· by the first respondent on 26th August, 1971. We shall have occasion to refer to these particulars and the reply made to them when we examine the arguments advanced on behalf of the parties. . The learned Trial Judge then framed issues on the merits by an order dated 3rd September, 1971. Issues 1 to 7 of these issues relate .. to the ground set out in paragraphs 18 and 19. It is not necessary to refer to them since they were decided against the ·petitioner by the E ··.learned Tria!Judge and the· correctness'ofthis decision iS not assailed on behalf of the petitioner iD the present appeal. Issue 8 raised the question whether the first respondent, his election agent and other persons with the consent of the first respondent or his election agent committed the corrupt practices charged in paragraphs 20 and 21 and Issue 9 raised a similar question in regard to the corrupt practices set out in paragraph 24. The question whether the first respondent inF curred or authorised expenditure in excess of the prescribed limit of ·Rs. 10,000/- in contravention of section 77 as alleged in paragraph _25,_ . was put in issue iri Issue 10. Issues 11, 12 and 13 raised certain s~b­ sidiary questions but it appears from the judgment of the Je11rned Trial Judge that they were not pressed by the learned Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner before the Trial Court.· We need not, there fore, spend any time on these issues. The last issue was issue 14 G which was directed against the fifth respondent who was alleged to have committed corrupt practices. B There was enormous oral as well as documentary evidence Jed on behalf of both sides. This evidence discloses certain curious and unusual features to which we shall advert in course of tiin.e, but there can be no doubt that it evidences very careful and thorough preparation of the case on either side. Not an inch of ground appears to have been conceded by one.side to the other and every move in this long and bitter contest, from one· side or the other, seems to have been well thought 264 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [197 SJ 2 s.c.R. out and relentlessly pursued. The learned Trial Judge, on a consid!ration of the evidence presented before him, came to the conclusion that issues 8, 9 and 10 were not established by the petitioner and there was also no satisfactory proof in regard to issue 14 and accordingly, by a judgment d1ted 19th Mey, 1972 he rejected the charges of corrupt practice against the first and fifth respondents and dismissed the election p!tition wjth costs. The petitioner being aggrieved by the judgment of the learned Trial Judge preferred the present appeal under section 116 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The p::titioner assailed the correctness of the judgment ·of the learned Trial Judge on.Iy on issues 8, 9, 10 and 14. The judgment, in so far as it related to issues 1 to 7 and 11 to 13 was accepted by the petitioner and it is, therefore, not necessary to refer to the facts in so far as they bear on those issues. We shall confine ourselves only to such of the facts a~ are relevant to issues 8, 9, 10and14 and instead of setting them out in a narrative form before .commencing discussien of tha arguments, what _w::i_ propose to do is to refer to the _relevant facts while discussing each particular issue. We shall proceed in the order in which these issues were argued before us. We first take up issue 10. The charge against the first respondent under this issue was that he incurred or authorised exi:endit-ure in excess of the prescribed limit of Rs. 10,000 in contravention of section 77 and thereby committed the corrupt practice defined in section 123(6) of the Act. Section 123 sets out Various corrupt practices which have the effect of invalidating an election and one of them is the incurring or authorising the expenditure in contravention of section 77 : vide sub-section (6). Sub-section (I) of section 77 provides that "every candidate at an election shall, either by himself or by his election agent, keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure in connection with the election _incurred or authorised_ by him or by his. election agent, between the date of publication of the notification calling the election and the date of declaration of the result thereof, both dates inclusive", while sub-section (3) says that "the total of the said expenditure shall not exceed such amount as may be prescribed." It was common ground between the parties thlft the expenditure prescribed for a parliamentary constituency in the Union Territory of Delhi . was·, Rs. 10,000. The first respondent.and his election agent were, therefe>te,\ prohibited by section 77 from incurring or authorising expenditure 'in connection with his election exceeding Rs. 10,000, and if the first respondent or his election agent· incurred or authori'sed such expendi-. ture in excess of Rs. 10,000, it would be a corrupt practice voiding his election under section I 23(6). The question which, therefore arises for consideration is whether the first respondent or his electio~ agent incurred or authorised expenditure in connection with his election exceeding Rs. 10,000. Now, before we proceecl to discuss the evidence bearing on this question, we must clear the ground by pointing out that not only is the incurring of excessive expenditure a corrupt practice, but also the _authorising_ of such expenditure, and authorising may be ill).plied as well as express. Where the authorising is express, there is no d.ifficu.Ity A B ##### c D E F G H A 8 ###### c D E F G .. H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati, I.)_ 265 in bringing.home the charge of corrupt practice against the candidate. ~ut a somewhat difficult question on facts may arise where the charge 1s sought to be proved agamst the candidate on the basis that the impliedly a~tho:ised excessi~e expenditure. Whether a particular expenditure was 1mphedly authonsed by the candidate must depend on the facts and circumstances of each case as appearing from the evidence adduced before the Court. This question would arise in a challenging form where expenditure in connection with the election is incurred, not by t~e c~ndidate, but by the political part.Y ~hich has sponsored him or his friends and supporters. Can the hm1t on the expenditure be evaded by the candidate by not spending any moneys of his own but leaving it to the political party or hi&.Jj:iends and supporters to spend an amount far in excess of the limit ? l'he object of ~he provision limiting the expenditure is two-fold. In the first place,, it should be open to individual or any political party, howsoever small, to be able to contest an election on a footing of equality with any other individual or political party, howsoever rich and well financed it may be, and no individual or political party should be able to secure an advantage over others by reason of its superior financial strength. It can hardly be disputed that the way elections. are held·in our count.ry, money is bound to play an important part in the successful prosecution .of an election campaign. Mbney supplies "assets for. advertising and other forms of political solicitation that increases the candidate's exposure to the public." Not only can money buy advertising and canvassing facilities such as hoardings, posters, handbills, brochures etc. and. all the other paraphernalia of an election campaign, but it can also provide the means for quick and speedy communications and movements and sophisticated campaign techniques and is also "a substitute for energy" in that paid workers can be employed where volunteers are found to be insufficient. The availability .!bf large funds does ordinarily tend to increase the number of votes a candidate will receive. If, therefore, one political party or individual has larger resources available to it than another individual or political party, the former would certainly, under the present system of conducting elections, have an advantage over the latter in the electoral proceEs. The former would have a significantly greater qpportunity for the propagation o~ its program!'le while the latter mayqnot be able to make even an effective psernntat1on of its views. The availability of disproportio~ately larg~'. rernurce<, is also likely to lend itself to misuse or abuse for securing to ty political party or individual possessed of such resources, undue adva1'1:t· age over other political parties or individuals. Douglas pomts out m his book called Ethics in QQ:vernment at page 72, "If one party ever attains overwhelming supJrfority in money, newspaper support, and (government) patronage, it will be almost,impo.ssible, barring ~n eccnomic collapse, for it ever to be defeated.' This produces anti-democratic ·effects in that a political party or individual backed by .the affluent and wealthy would be able to secure a greater representation than a political party or individual who is without any links with affluence - or wealth. This would result in serious discrimination between one political party or individual and another on the b~'js of. money power and that in its turn would mean that "some voters are dcmed an· 'equal' 266 SUPREME COUllT REPORTS (1975] 2 s.c.R. · voice and some candidates are denied an "equal chance". .It is ele· mentary that each and every citizen has an inalienable right to full and effective participation ii;i .the political process of the l~gisla~ure~ and this requires that each clti?fn sho~d have equally ~ffect1ve V?Ice Ill ~he election of the members or the legislatures. That 1s the basic reqwre· ment of the Constitution. This equal effective voice-equal oppor· tunity of participation in the electoral process-would be deni¢ if affluence arid wealth are to tilt the scales in tavour of one political party or individual as against another. The democratic process can function efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the common good and reach out the benefits of self-government to the common man only ifit brings about a participatory democracy in which every m.an, howsoever lowly or humble he may be, should be able to participate on a footjng ·of equality with others. Individuals with grievances, men and women with ideas and vision, are the sources of any society's :(>Ower to improve itself. Government by consent means that such individuals must eventually be able to find groups that will work with them and must be able to _.make their voices heard_ in these groups and no group should be insulated from competition and criticism. It is only by the mainte· nance of such conditions that democracy can thrive and prosper and this can be ensured only by limiting the expenditure which may be incurred in connection with elections, so that, as far as possible, no one single political party or individual can have unfair advantage over the other by reason of its larger resources and the resources available for being 11tilised in the electoral process are within reasonable bounds and not unduly disparate and the electoral contest becomes e-venly matche.d. Then alone the small man will come into his own and will be able to secure proper representation in our legislative bodies. The other objective of limiting expenditure is to eliminate, as far as possible, the influence of big money in the electoral process. If there were no limit on expenditure, political parties would go all out for collecting contributions and obviously the largest contributions would be from the rich and affluent who constitute but a fraction of the electorate. The pernicious influence of big money would then play a decisive role in controlling the democratic process in the country. This would inevitably lead, to the worst form of political corruption and that in its wake is _bound to. prod.uce other _vices at all ~evels. This danger has been pointed out m tellmg words m the followmg passage from the notes in _Harvard Law.Review,_ Vol. 66, p. 1260: "A less debatable objective of regulating campaign funds is the elimination of dangerous financial pressures on elected officials. Even if contributions are not motivated by an expected return in political favours, the legislator cannot overlook the effects of his decisions on the sources of campaign funds." . It is 4ifficult to gene~alise. about ~he degree o_f jnfluence which the large contnbutors. may wield m shapmg the pohc1es and decisions of the political party which they finance. It is widely acknowledged, however, that, at the very least, they would have easy access to the leaders and representatives of the political party. But itwould be naive to suggest A B ##### c D E F G H B ##### c D E F G H L L, GUPTAV. A· N• CIL\WLA _(Bhagwati,_ J,) 267 that the influence ends with mere access. It may. safely be assumed that hardly any politicians "would consciously sell their votes"; the result may be nearly the same, if one accepts Herbert Alexander's analysis of the subtle factors that influence a political party's actions: "Many politicians-who do what they honestly think is right, never realize that they are mere spokesmen for their financial supporters. Alegislator can avoid a conflict of interest by investing in government bonds, but he cannot change the conditioning that }eads him to believe that what is good for his former company or present backers is gocd for the country." lt is likely that some· elected representatives would tend to share the views _qf_ the wealthy supporters of their political party, either be· cause of shared background and associations, increased access oNubtle influences which condition their thinking. In such event the result would be that though· ostensibly the political parties which receive such contributions may profess an ideology acceptable to ~e com mon man, they would in effect and· substance be representative of a certain ec6nomic class and their policies and decisions would be shaped by the interests of that economic class. It was over a hundred years ago that John Stuart Mill observed that persons of a particular class who have exclusive governmental power, even if they try to act objectively, will tend to overlook the interests of other classes, or view those interests differently. And to this natural tendency may ~ adde~ the fact that office bearers and elected representatives may quite poSSI· bly be inclined, though unconsciously and imperceptibly, to espouse policies and decisions that will attract campaign contributions from a4ftuent individuals and groups. .It was said of the electoral process in the United States of America : "Members of the Rockefeller and Du Pont families invest in the election of a Republican President because they sense that if that party takes over the White House, their interests will gain more sympathetic attention-" "The central objective of contributions is access to the power of the elected official..:...." "For a gift pf a few hundred dollars an individual may gain, in return, the intercession of a Congressman that will get him a governinent contract or a tariff provision that will ultimately net him or his business tens of thousands of dollars." It is obvious that pro-election donations would be likely to operate as post-election promises resulting ultimately in the casualty of the interest of the conu:non man, not so much ostensibly in the legislative process as in the implementation of laws and administrative or policy decisions. The small man's chance is the essence of Indian democracy and that would be stultified if large contributions from i:ich and affluent indviduals or groups are not divorced from the electoral process. It is for this reason that our Legislators, in their wisdom, enacted a ceiling on the expenditure whi~ may legitimately be incurred in connection with an election. This background must inform the court in the. interpretation of this vital and significant provision in the election Jaw of our country. 268 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.c.R. Now, if a candidate were to be subject to the limitation of the ceiling, but the political party sponsoring hii;n or his friends and supporters were to be free to spend as much as they like in connection with his election, the object of hnposing the ceiling would be completely frustrated and tho beneficent provision enacted in the interest of purity and genuineness of the democratic process would be wholly emasculated. The mischief sought to. be remedied and the evil sought to be· suppressed would enter the political arena with redoubled force and vitiate the political life of the country. The gn:at democratic ideal of social, economic and political justice and equality of status and opportunity enshrined in the Preamble of our Constitution would remain merely a distant dream eluding our grasp. The legislators could never have intended that what the individual candidate cannot do, the political party sponsoring him or his friends and supporters should be free to do. That is why the legislature wisely interdicted not only the incurring·but also the authorising of excessive expenditure by a candidate. When the political party **.** sponsoring a candidate incurs exp~ndi­ ture _in_ _connection_ _with_ _his_ _election,_ as distinguished from expenditure _on general party propaganda,_ and the candidate knowingly takes advantage of it or participates in the programme or activity or fails to disavow tho expenditure or consents to it or acquiesces in it, it would be reasonable to infer, save in .special circumstances, that he impliedly authorised the political party to incur such expenditure and he cannot escape the rigour of the ceiling by saying · that he has not incurred the expenditure, but his politil<al party has done so. A party candidate does not stand apart from his political party and if the political party does not \\rant the candidate to incur the disqualification, it must exe.rcise control over the expenditure which.. may be incurred by it directly to promote the poll prospects of the candidate. The same proposition must also. hold good in case of expenditure incurred by friends and supporters directly in connection with the t:lection of the candidate. This is the only reasonable interpretation of the provision which would carry out its object and intendment and suppress the mischief and advance the remedy by purifying our election process and ridding it of the pernicious and baneful influence of big money. This is in fact what the law in England has achieved. There, every person, on pain of criminal penalty, i,. required to obtain authority from the candidate before incurring any political expenditure on his behalf. The candidate is given complete discretion in authorising expenditure upto his limit Jf expenditure made with the knowledge and approval of the candidate exceeds the limit or if the candidate makes a false report of the expenditure after the ele(:tion, he is subject not only to criminal penalties, but also to having his election voided. It may be contended that this would considerably inhibit the electoral campaign of political parties. But we do not think so. In the first place, a political party is free to incur any expenditure it likes _on_ _its general_ _party pro-_ _paganda_ though, of course, in this area also some !imitative ceiling is emirilntly desirable coupled with filing of retuxn of expenses and an independent machinery to investigate and take action. It is only where expenditure is incurred which can be identified with the election of a given candidate that it would be liable to be added to the expenditure of that candidate as being impliedly authorised by him. Secondly, A B ##### c D E F G H A B ###### c D E F G H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A· N· CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /.) 269 if there is continuous community involvement in political administration punctuated by activated phases of well-discussed choice of cartd.idates by popular participation in the process of nomination, much of unnecessary expenditure which is incurred tcday could be avoided. Considerable distance may not have to bi: travelled by candidates and supportes nor hidden skeletons in political cupboards tactically uncovered, propagandist marijuana skilfully administered, temptations of office strategically held out nor violent demonstrations disruptively attempted. The dawn-to-dawn multiple speeches and monster rallies, the flood of posters and leaflets and the organising of transport and other arrangements for large numbers would become otiose. Large campaign funds would not· be able to influence the decision of the electors if the selection and election of candidates becomes people's decision by discussion and not a Hobson's choice offered by Political parties. Limiting election expenses must be part of the. political process. This view, which we are taking, does not run counter to any earlier decisions of this Court. The first decision to which we must refer iU: this connection is _Rdnanjaya_ _Singli_ v. _Baijnath_ _Singh_ & _Ors.(I)._ There the corrupt practice charged against the;: elected candidate was that certain persons who were in employment of his father worked for· him in connection with the election and their number exceeded the maxi-mum number of persons who could be employed in connectio;n with the. election as specified in Sch. VI read with section 77. This charge was negatived by a Bench of five judges of this Court. The Bench held that in order to attract· the inhibition of the rel6.vant sections., it 'was necessary that the employment of persons other than or in addition to those specified in Sch. VI should be _by_ a candidate or his agent and since in that case, the person~ who worked in connection with the. election were neither employed nor paid by the electeq candidate or· his agent, the prohibitory requirement of section 77 read with section 123(7) was not breached. It will be seen that this decision was concerned primarily with the question whether servants of the father of the elected candidate, who worked fer the elected candidate in connection with the election, were liable to be taken into account in determining whether the maximum'number of persons who may be employed for payment in connection witli the election were exceeded. It is no doubt true that this. Court observed that no expenditure was _incurred_ by the elected candidate over a.11d above what was shown in his return of expenses and he could not, therefore, tie said to have concealed such expenditure, but that was obviously because these persons who worked in connection with the election were not _paid_ _by_ _him._ This Court had no occasion to consider whether the elected candidate should be said to have _authorised_ any expenditure by knowingly taking advantage of the services of these persons, because no such argument was advanced before this Court. In fact such an argument could not plausibly be advanced because the salaries paid by the father to these persons were· not fo~ the purpose of working in connection with the election. The (1) (1955) 1 S.C.R. 671. 270 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.c.R. salaries were paid because they we1e servants in the regular employ ment of the father and it was merely at the request of the father that "they assisted the son in connection with the election which strictly speaking they were not obliged to do". This decision does not, therefore, run contrary to what we have said. We may then refer to the decision of this Court in _Ram_ _Dayal_ v. _Brijraj_ _Singh_ & _Ors.(1)_ The question which arose for consideration in that case was whether certain expenditure incurred by the Maharaja of Gwalior and the Rajmata in connection with the election of Brijraj Singh was liable to be inc.luded in his election expenses. Shah, J., (as he then was) speaking on behalf of a Division Bench of two judges, pointed out that in the absence of any connection between the canvassing activities carried on by the Maharaja and the Rajmata with the candidature of BriJraj Singh, i~ is impossiblt" to hold that any expenditure was incwTed for Brijraj Singh which was liable to be includ~d in his election expenses. The learned Judge then proceeded to add : "We agree with the High Court that under s. 77(1) only the expenditure incurred or authorised by the candidate himself or by his election agent is required to be included in the account or return of election expenses and thus expenses incurred by any other agent or person _withor.t any .thing more_ need not be included in the accowit or return; as such incurring of expenditure would be purely voluntary." (Emphasis supplied) These observations would show that mere incurring oi expenditure by, any other person ill' connection with the election of a candidate, _without_ _something_ _more,_ would· not make it an expenditure authorisea b:> the candidate. But if there is something more which can reasonably lend itself to the inference o'f implied authorisation, parti cularly having regard to the object and intendment of the provision limiting expenditure, the Court would readily draw such an inference because the paramount object of this provision is to bring about, as far as possible, equality in availability of resources and eliminate the corrupting influence of big money. It is significant to note that in tllis case the Court pro~eded to examine whether the evidence was sufficient to t"stablish that Brijraj Singh travelled with the Maharaja in his helicopter and visited several villages for his election campaign .and held that the evidence in this connection was not reliable. This inquiry would have been wholly unnecessary unless the Court was of the view that if Brijraj Singh could 'be sb,own to have travdled \\ith the Maharaja in his helicopter and visited several villages in connection with his election ca.mpaign, that would be sufficient to. invest the expenditure incurred by the Maharaja with the character of expenditure impliedly - authori$lld by Brijraj Singh.· This decision, therefore far from contradicting the view taken by us, actually supports t. Wo find the same view taken by this Court in the subsequent decision in _Magro} Patodia_ v. _R._ _K._ _Bir/a_ & _Ota.<?)_ There also Hegde, _1.,_ (1) [1970] l S.C.R. _S30,_ (2) [1971)2 S.C.R.118. A ## _(_ B c. D E F G H K. _L._ GUP'l'A _v,_ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /.) 271 A B c D E F G H February, 1971 to 2nd March, 1971". The third was an amol\nt of Rs. 440/- paid to Aggarwal Tent Houso for furnishings and electric equipment supplied at o!even public meetings~)ld th~_ bill of Aggarwal .·Tent House R-26 for this amount. ~ho wed t~J.Aggarwal ·Ten~ House had supplied for each public meetmg one t11khat• four dumes, two chandanis, one mictophollO and four - :1loodlights for a total· speaking on behalf of a Division Bench of two judges; observed; after referring to the decisions in _Ranarifaya_ _Singh_ v. _Baijnath_ _Singh_ & _Ors._ (supra) and. _Ram_ _Dayal_ v. _Brijraj_ _Singh_ & _Ors._ (supra) : "This Court as well as the High Courts have taken the view that the expenses incurred by a political party to advance the prospects of the candidates put up by it, _without_ _more_ do not fall within s. 77." (emphasis supplied). Th6 same view was reiterated again by a Division Bench of two judgesof this Court in _B._ _Rajagopala Rao_ v. _N._ C. _Ranga.(1)_ The question, therefore, in cases of this kind always is whether there is someting more which may legitimately give rise to an inference of implied authorisation by a candidate. What could be that something more is indicated by us in the proposition formulated above, though we must confess that by its very nature it is not possible to lay down the ·exhuastive enumeration of the circumstances in which that something more may be inferred.· With these observations in regard to the scope and ambit of the provision limiting expenditure, we may now proceed to examine the facts and see whether the first respondent incurred or a\Jthorised expenditure exceeding Rs. 10,000/- in con~tion with his election. Tho first item of expenditure which we must consider in this connection relates to expenses incurred in holding public meetings in eonnection with the election of the first respondent. The firsf respondent in the return .of expenses filed by him With the District Election Officer showed three amounts as having been spent ·by him in connection with his public meetings. Ono was an amount of Rs. 188/- paid - to Tandon Tent & Furniture House for furnishings supplied for twelve ·public meetings held between 20th February, 1971 and 2nd March, J.971. This expenditure was supported by the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House, _R-25_ which showed that for each of the t\velve pqblic meetin~. Tandon Tent & Furniture House had supplied twenty durris, six takhatnnd·two chaddars at an aggregate charge of Rs. IS/· per meeting. The other was· an amount of Rs. 180/-, which according to the first respondent, was paid to Saini Electric works for microphone, . loudspeakers and lighting arrangements made at the same twelve public meetings. The pa~ment of this amount was sought to be supported by tne receipt of Saini Electric Works, R-27 which showed a consolidated charge of Rs; 180/- "on account of JoudspeaKer and lighting arrangements for the period from 20th (1) A.J.R. 1971. S.C. 266. _'212_ SUPIREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.c.R. :amount of Rs. 4401- inclusive of Rs. 100/- for cartage and Rs. 40/for labour charges. The first respondent thus admitted a total number of tw~ntv-three public meetings and according to him, the total ·expenditure at each of these .Public meetings was about Rs. 30/~ for furnishings as well as electnc .. equipment, the ag~regate expend1tu~e being only Rs. 8001- . The pet1t1oner challenged this fig1:1re of e.xpend1ture· given -by the first respondent and contended that m addition to twenty-three public meetings admitted by the first respondent, many more public meetings were held in connection with the election of.the first respondent and much larger expenditure was incurred in each of these public meetings than what was shown by the first respondrnt in the bills of Tandon Tent & Furniture House and Aggarwal Tent House and the receipt ot Saini Electric Works. The argument of the petitioner was that in fact the first respondent had held more than fifty public meetings and at each of these public meetin.gs he had incurred expenditure of not less than Rs. 200/- and the expenditure incurred in these public meetings itself exceeded the prescribed limit of Rs. 10,000/-. The petitioner also urged that a. huge meeting was organised by the first respondent in connection with the election of the first rc:spcndent at Idgah Road which was addressed by the Prime Minister and this meeting alone cost about Rs. 50,000/- and the ceiling of Rs. 10,000/was clearly exceeded. These contentions require a clo5e look at the evidence led on behalf of the parties. A B ###### c **D** _I_ .. We will first turn to consider the number of meetings organised in connection with the election of the first respondent. The first respondent, no doubt, admitted twenty three·public meetings, as indeed he was bound to do in view of the return of expenses filed by him, but **E** he did not state at any time, until he came in the witness box after the closure of the evidence of the petitioner, as to which were these twenty three public meetings and when and where they were held. The petitioner set out in the particulars: regarding paragraphs 20(2) and 24 of the petition, fumish'd by him pursuant to the order of the learntd Trial Judge dated 6th ~ugust, 1971, the dates and places of the public meetings where the allegations contained in the poster annexure .'A' were F orally repeated by the first and fifth respondents and these particulars included reference- to several public meetings which did not form part of the twenty three public meetings ultimately admitted by- the first respondent, and yet the first respondent. did not in his reply to the particulars deny that any of these public meetings were held by the respondent, but merely contented himself by stating vaguely and evasively that "the correctness of the statements made against G paragraph 20(2)(ii)" was denied. It is apparent that though more than twenty three public meetings were held by the first respondent the first respondent had not yet made up his mind as to which twenty three out of these public meetings he should admit. If in fact only twenty three public meetings. were held and the particulars furnished by the petitioner included other public meetings, the first respondent would have promptly come out with an assertion tbt ~uch and such public **H** meetings alleged by the petitioner wore not held. But he could not and **did** noi particularise any such public meetings and deny them. A B ##### c D E F G H ](, L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _J.)_ 273 ~t is also significant to note that when the petitioner in a rather cunous menoeuvre ·summoned the first respondent to produce certain documents, the first respondent stated that he did not have any _list_ of public meetings held in connection with his election and he did not have any record showing "the places where they were held including dates, names of the speakers who addressed or were to address" such public meetings. The first respondent also stated in cross-examination that he had no record with him in support of his statement that there were twenty three public meetings. It is. rather strange and difficult to believe that the first respondent should not have any record of the public meetings held by him in connection with his election. If the first respondent did not have any such record, how could he in his evidence give with any definiteness or certitude the dates and places of the twenty three public meetings admitted by him. It is apparent that the first respondent refused to produce the record of the public meetings under the pretext that he did not have any such record, because he did not at that stage, before the evidence of the petitioner was fully . disclosed to him, wish to commit himself to any specific public meetings ·'and the record, if produced, would have gone against him and showed thai many more than twenty three public meetings were held by him. The non-production of the record must result in an adverse inference being drawn against the first respondent. . \ There is also another circumstance which deserves to be noted at this stage. The first respondent was summoned by .the petitioner to produce _inter_ _alia_ a.12plications for permission to hold public meetings made by him or on his behalf or for his benefit by any of his workers or election agents or other agents and in answer to this summons he stated that he did not make any such application nor was any such application made on his behalf or for his benefit by any of workers, election agents or other agents. The first respondent a4ded that Dr. Roshan Lal made "applications for permission to the authorities _as_ _President_ of the Delhi Sadar District Congress Committee". It is obvious from these statements that until this time the first respondent had not thought out and formulated his defence· in regard to the public meetings. The first respondent wanted to leave open an exit in case the petitioner was able to show that more than twenty three public meetings _wer~ held. and:he, therefore! deftly. and subtly threw .O\lt a veiled suggestion 1mplymg that the pubhc meetmgs were held by t~ Delhi Sadar District Congress Committee. This attitude of the first respondent betrays an anxiety to hofd back the true facts in regard to the public meetings. It may also be noted that even in the cross-examination of the petitioner and his witnesses, the first respondent did not put forward his case as to which were the specific public meetings held by him in connection with his election and which were not. It"was only after the evidence on behalf of the petitioner was closed and the first respondent knew what exactly was. the c.ase of the petitioner, ~hat he ~or the ~rst time !n his evidence part1cular1sed twenty three spec!fic. publi.c meetmg~ adnnt-. ted by him. This strategy was adopted obW)usly with the objeet that 274 SUJ•REMP. COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 $.C.R. the twenty three public meetitlgs named by the ~rst respo!ldent .should fit in with the unimpeachable documentary evidence which m1gh~ be produced by the petitioner and his witnesses and should not be falsified by such evidence. With these broad general observations we now turn to consider the oral and documentary evidence in regard to the public meetings of the first respondent. The fi~st res~ndent in his evidence adm?tted the fo!le>wing twenty three pubhc meetmgs and accepted financial responsibility' for them : A B ##### c E 25-2-71 Narayan Mark 15-2-71 Chowk Tatu Shah Bagicbi Tatu Shah 18-2-11 Kasab Pura 20-2-71 Chowk Bara Tooti 21-2-71 Deputy Ganj 21-2-71. Telewara 24-2-71 Teliwara 13-2-71 Chowk Kishan Ganj 1-3-71 P. Block, Andha Mughal 16-2-71 K. Block, Andha Mughal 23-2-71 Nagia Park 24-2-71 In front of lllfrla Mills. 1. 2. 3. 4. _s._ 23-2-'11 Malka Ganj 19-2-71 R.oshanara Road 16-2-71 Ghanta Ghar Subzi Mandi 2-3-71 Clock Tower Subzi Mandi _s._ 24-2-71 Chhe Tooti in Paharganj. 6. - t,3-71 Chowk Chhe Tooti 7. 22-2-71 Chuna Mandi 8. 19-2· 71 Tel Mandi 9. 2-3-71 Chowk Lachman Puri 10. 25-2-71 Katra Karim Ram Naga.r 11. 2-3-71 Chowk Nimwala Nabi Karim 12. 13. 14; 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. These ~re the twenty three public meetings for which, accord ign to the first respondent, furnishings and electric equipment were supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture HoU.sll', Saini ·Electric Works and Aggarwal Tent H~use. The question is whether any further meetings were held in connectiOn with the election of the first respondent. To establish that many more public meetings than twenty F three w~re held to promote the e ection prospects of the first respe>ndent, the petitioner led considerable oral as well as documentary evidence. We shall presently examine this evidence, but before we do so. it would be convenient to dispose of two .objections of a preliminary nature raised on behalf of the first respondent. The first respondent G urged that though the petitioner at one time contended that about forty to fifty public meetings were held in connection with the election of the first respondent, he did not adhere to this Claim in the course of the arguments before the learned Trial Judge and confined his claim only to nine public meetings in addition to the twenty three public meetings admitted by the first respondent, and therefore, it was not now open to him in the present appeal to contend that any further public meetings H were held by the first respondent over and above the nine claimed before the loarned Trial Judge. 'This objection is, however, untenable K. L. GUPTA _V._ A. N. CHAWLA _(B/iagwati,_ _J.)_ 27 5 B ##### c because it is clear from the judgment itself that the petiti'Oner could not have confined his claim to the nine public meetings referred to by the learned Trial Judge and the learned Trial Judge was obviously under some misapprehension when he made observation to that effect. in the judgment. Out of these nine public meetings, there were six which were included in the twenty three public meetings admitted ~y the first respondent and if that be so, it is difficult to imagine how the petiti'Oner could have claimed them as being in addition kl those twenty three public meetings. The petitioner could not possibly have confined his claim to these nine public meetings, when out of them, six were those which were admitted by the first respondent, and could not, therefore, be "in addition to the admitted public meetings''. In fact, as the subsequent discussion in the judgment shows, the lcarnd T1ial Judge actually proceeded to consider the evidence of the police officer~ and the officers belonging to the CID which was led on behalf of the petitioner for the purpose of proving various other public meetings in addition to the nine referred to by the learned Trial Judge and hf:ld, on a consideration of this evidence, that none of these public meetings claimed by the petitioner was established. This exercise would have been wholly unnecessary if the petitioner had given up his claim in regard to these public meetings and confined his argument only to tile 0 . nine public meetings referred to by the learned Trial Judge. E F G H It was thtn contended by the first respondent in a last desperate atte-mpt to thwart an inquiry by this Court into the number •Jf publk: meetings, that the petitioner had given particulars of only thirty thr;;..: public meetings in compliance with the order made by the learned ' Trial Judge dated 6th August, 197.1 and it was, therefore, not open. to him to claim that any further public meetings were held by the first respondent and his argument should be confined only · b the thirty three public meetings specified in the particulars. TI1is argument of the first respondent is also futile. It is clear from the particulars flirnished by the petitioner pursuant to the order dated 6th August, 1971 that the particulars o~ thirty three public meetings were jtiven by the petitioner under paragraphs 20(2)(ii) and 24 and not 'under . paragraph 25 of the petition. The petitioner had alleged in paragraphs 20(2) and 24 that the allegatr0ns contained in the poster annexure 'A' were orally repeated by the first and fifth respondents at various public meetings and the . petitioner was, therefore, required to give particulars of such public meetings. These particulars were given by the· petitioner specifically in reference to parasraphs 20(~) and 24 and they had nothing to d& ·with the allegations in paragraph 25. So far as paragraph 25 is concerned, the only particulars which· the petitioner was required to furnish were "details o~ the items or heads of expenses incurred by respondent No .. l ", and the retitioner accordingly gave items or heads of exp~nscs under the headin11 "Paragraph 25(1) of the petition". The petitioner was not required. and did not give particulars of the public meetings held by the first respondent .. at which expenses were incurred or authorised by .the first resJ)\mdent. There is nothing, therefore, in the particulars . which debars t~e · petitioner from agitating as to what _was the actual number of pubhc meetings held by the first respondent. 3-M255 Sup.Cl/75 276 SUPllll.ME COURT REPOllTS [1975) 2 S.C.lt· The area of Sada.r Parliamentary constituency was comprised within the jurisdiction of your different police stations, namely, Roshanara Road, Pahargunj, Subzimandi and Sadar Bazar. The Station House Officers p<Jsted at these four police stations were summoned by the peti tioner to give evidence as regards the public meetings held within their res.pec:tive jurisdictions. Khemraj Dutt (P. W. l) was the first witness called on behalf of the petitioner. He was the Station House Officer at Roshanara Road police station and he deposed fro.!Jl the re i:ords in his possession and filed a list PW! /1 showing that two public meetings were held by the Ji.mt respondent within the jurisdiction of his police station, one at Nagia Park on 23rd February, 1971 and the other near Birla Mills compounds on 24th February, 1971. Both these public meetings are included in the twenty three public meetings admitted by the first respondent and we need not, therefore, dwell on the evidence of this witness. A B ##### c The next witness who gave evidence on behalf 6f the petitioner was Ramesh Chand, Station House Officer from Sadar Bazar Police Station (P.W. 6). He prepared from the records in .his possession a list showing the public meetings held within the jurisdiction of his police station and filed it in court as Ex. PW 6/5. The entries in this list have D been the subject matter of controversy between the parties and we shaII, therefore, refer to these entries in S'Ome detail. The lis1: was broadly in three parts. One part expressly referred tO public meet· ings held by the New Congress, the second p'art to public. meetings held by Jansangh and the third part which was headed ''Others", to certain other public meetings. There were nine public meetings set olit in the first part as having been organised by the New Congress. The E first eight were those included in the twenty three public meetings ad mitted by the first respondent.. The ninth was a public meeting at Idgah Road which was addressed by the Prime Minister. We shall deal with the Idgah Road meetings separately as it stands in a different category by itself. We are not concerned with the public meetings held by the Jan Sangh and need not, therefore, refer to the second part. The third part was headed "Others" and in this part eight public meet- I! ings were set out as having been held on different dates. The question which was keenly debated before us was as to what was the meaning of the heading "Others", The contention of the first respondent was, and that was a contention which found faxour with the learned Trial Judge and on which large part of his judgment on this pJint rested, .. that the heading "Others" signified that the public meetings enumerated under that heading were held by individuals or political parties other G than the Congress and the Jan Sangh. The Petitioner, on the other hand, urged that the heading "Others" wasdntended to indicate only that the public meetings referred tu therein were other public meetings over and above those set out in the first and second parts and since the recorqs did not show which were the political parties which held them, they were shown in a separate. cate~ory under .this particular heading. The word "Others" was not intended _to_ convey that these pul)lil:. m~ · H were of 9thers, that is ·of individuals or political parties oilier than _the_ Congress and the Jan Sangh. We think that the meaning sought A B ##### c D E F G H K. L, GUPTA _v,_ A, JS• CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /.) 277 to ~ given by the petitioner is oorrect and it must be preferred to that canvassed on behalf of the first respondent. The list was admitted!)' Jl'epared by Ramesh Chand and he explained in his evidence in ·~ many terms as to what he meant by the heading "Others". He stated in his evidence, obviously referring ro the public meetings set out in the the meetings". These public meetings may have been held by the Congthe meetings". These public meetings may have been held by the Congress or the Jan Sangh or any other individual or political party. The records from which the list was prepared did not show which wer~ the political parties which held these public meetings and they were0 therefore, classified under the hea<ling "Others". Ramesh Chand did not say that these public meet~ were held by some individuals or political parties other than the Congress· and the Jan Sangh and that is why they were included under the heading ''Others" nor was any such suggestion made to him in <;ross-examination. The explanation given by Ramesh Chand that the names of the political parties which held these public meetings were not ktrown and hence not mentioned in the list was not challenged on behalf of the first respondent in cross-examination and if this explanation is to be accepted, as it must be it is apparent that these public meetings were subsumed under the heading "Others~' because the records did not show which were the political parties which held them. The wc'>rd "Others", meant merely "other meetings" and not meetings "of others", that is of individuals or political parties other than the Congress and the Jan Sangh. We cannot, therefore, say that merely because a particular public meeting finds a ·place in the third part under the,heading "Others", it could not be a public meetinst of the Congress. The third part would show that the public meetings tliere referred to were held on the dates mentioned against them, but whether these public meetings were held by the Congress or the Jan Sangh or any other individual or political party could be ascertained only.from other evidence, because the records with the police did not show the names of the political parties which held these public meetings. pondent aniPwe need not, therefore, refer to them. That le~VCll for consideration two public meetings which, according to the bst, were held at Multani Dhandha on ISth-February, 1971 and Z2nd FebnlalJf, '1971. So far ~s the public meetings at Multani Dhandha on 18th The third witness from the police force summoned on behalf of the petitioner was Chaman Lal (P.W. 7) who_ was Station House Officer posted at Pahargunj P.olice Station. This" witness also prepared from the records in his possession a list showing the public meetings of tllC Congress held within the jurisdiction of ·his police station and filed it in court as Ex. PW 7/1. There were twelve public meetings shown in this list as· having been held by(be Congress, but out of the,, three p11blic meetings, namely, one at Chunamandi on 17th February, 1971, the. other at Arakashan Roa4, Bagichi Alauddin on 27th February, .1971 and the third at Chowk Lachmanpur on t~t ~arch .• 1971 a~ to have been cancelled. Thus, according to this hst, rune public meetings were held by the Congress within the jurisdiction of the Pahat· gunj Police Station. Out of the~e nirie. public ~eetjngs, s11ven: .~ included in the twenty three public meetings adm1f'led by the firSt rps· 278 S\IPREMI! COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 S.C.R· February, 1971 is concerned, the contention of th!:• first respon~ent was; ~ that was· the contention which appealed .to the learned Tna.lJudgc; ##### that it was a meeting of r. Sohan Lal who was a Congress candidate :frOm the adjoining Karol Bagbi Parliamentary constituency and not a meeting of the first respondent. We. do not think it is possible for us to hold affirmatively that this public meeting was a meeting of T. Sohwi Lal. T1Je first respondent cowd have easily summoned T. Sohan Lai who belonged to the same political party as he and established through his evidence that this was public meeting of T. Sohan Lal, but the first respondent failed to do so. T1Jat, however, does not help the petitioner, because the burden is on the petitioner to show that this oublic me~ting was a meeting of the first respondent and the petitioner ~ust discharge that burden on the evidence on record. How one fact which stands out from the evidence o~ Om Prakash Mallin (RI/WI) is that a part of Multani Dhandha (within the jurisdiction ~f Pahargunj Police Station) fell within the area of the Karol Bagh Parliamentary constituency and this fact could not be controverted on behalf of the petitioner. If a .part of Multani Dhandha fell within the area of the Karol Bagh Parliamentary constituency, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the public meeting oE 18th February, 1971 might have been held by T. Sohan Lal in bis part of Multani Dhandha in connection with his election. That.in fact was the suggestion made by Our Parkash Malekan (JU/WI) in his evidence and it was repeated on behalf of the first respondent in the course of the arguments. This suggestion gains strength from the fact that amongst the speakers at this public meeting, shown in tl1e list Ex. PW 7I1,. was T. Sohan Lal. There was· no positive evidence led on behalf of the petitioner showing that this public meeting was held in that part of Multani Dhandha which fell within the constituency of the first respondent. The only evidenr.e ·on which the petitioner sought to relp in this connection was that of Madan Lal Khorana (PW 10); but that evidence merely referred to a meeting of the first respondent in Multani Dhandha and, as we shall presently show, the first respondent did hold a public meetin.g at Multani Dh.andha on 2n<! February, 1971, and this evidence was obviously . referable to that pu_blic mi:eting. The ev:idence. on record cloes not, therefore, exclude the possibility that the public meeting of 18th February 1971 n)ight hav:e been held by T. Sohan Lal in his part of Multani Dhandha ~ch also fell within the jurisdiction of.Pahar Gunj Police Station~nd A B ##### c D E F - we cannot hold it proved tl1at this public meetfog was a meeting of the first respondent. The petitioner, however, stands on a firmer footing in regard to the public meeting at Multani Dhandha on 22nd February, 197 L This public meeting is clearly shown in the list" as having been l!eld as a meeting ofJhe Congrc:ss and Ex. PW 7 /3, which is a copy of. G the report intimating permissions granted to the Congress .fQr holding V"drious public meetings, shows that permission was gi:anted for holding this . public· meeting. The only ground on which· the Jearned. .Trial !udge .r~jected this public meeting was that it .was shown as i:ancelled in the list Ex.. PW 7 /.1. But this was an obvious error committed by the learned Tnal Judge, because if we look at the list Ex. PW 7/1, it js clear. that, .unlike the .. · three. public meetili~: at Cbunamandi, . Arakashan R.oad BagichJ.. Alauddin and Chowk t:achmanpurl, there is ff no endorse'lrient of cancellation· against this· public meeting and the ,.\ **B** (' D E F H K. L, GUPTA _v,_ A. N· CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _J,)_ 27 9 list clearly shows th11t this meeting was held, but the total number of persons attending· it and the names of the speakers were not knowri and hence not mentioned in the records. It was suggested on behalf uf. the iirst respond.ent in the course arguments that this public meeting u:mght also be of I. Solian Lal but this suggestion is wb:.iliy uatenable. In the first place, out of seven public meetings for which permissions were granted under Ex. PW 7 /3, six were admittedly pubiic meetings in connection with the election of the first respondent; and therefore, if would. be reasonable to infer that the seventh public meeting at Multani Dhandha on 22nd February, 1971 must also be a public meeting of the first. respondent. Seconly, it is difficult to believe that within four days of the first public meeting at Multani Dhandha on 18th February, 1971, T. Sohan Lal should have he)d another public meeting at the same place. It is more probable that this public meeting should have been held by. the fir8t respondent for whom this was the first and the only meeting in this area. Lastly, Madan Lal Khorana (PW 10) deposed to a public meeting of the first respondent at Muliani Dhandha and. this evidence was not challenged at all in cross-examination and it was not even suggested to this witness that no meeting ·was held by the first respondent in Multani Dhandha, We, therefore, hold, on tlte strength of the list PW 7 /1 and the permission PW 7/3 supported by the evidence of Madan Lal Khorana (PW 10), that a public meeting was held at Multani Dhandha on 22nd February; 1971 in connection with the election of the first respondent. Then we come to the evidence of .Ram Murti Sha.rma (PW 8), who was the Station House Officer ·at Subzimandi P;,lice Station. This witness field a list Ex. PW 8/3 showing the public meetings held by the Congress within the jurisdiction of his police station and giving particulars of such public meetings. · There were only six public meetings shown in this list and they were all included in the twenty three public mt:etings admitted by the first respondent. Since no further public meetings appeared to have been held by the Congress ac;:ording t.i this list, we need not say any thing more about it. The petitioner, however, relied on a letter dated 12th Febrnary, 1971 Ex. PW 8/2 addresssed by the sub-Divisional Magistrate to Dr. Roshan Lal accordinl( permission to hold public meetings at certain places on the dates shown against them. The c·ontention of the petitioner was that since pel1llission was granted to Dr. Roshan Lal to hold these public meetings, they must be presumed fo have been held and must be added to the twenty three public meetings admitted by the first respondent. Now,,out of seven public meetings for which permission was granted by this letter, four were admittedly held as shown in the list Ex. 8/3. The question is whether the other three public meetings, namely, one at 'K' Block, Andha Mughal ·on 18th February, 1971. the other at Malka Gunj on 22nd February, 1971 and the third at Ghanta Ghar on 3rd March, 1971.lbr which permission was granted, were held. We may straight away dismiss the public meeting alleged to have been held at Ghanta Ghar on 3rd March, 1971, for there is no evidence at all to show that .this public meeting was hekl and Ram Murti Sharma (P.W. 8) actually stated in this evidence that the permission for this public meeting was cancelled· **by** the Sub-Divisional Magistrate by his order dated 13th February, 19'71. 280 SUPREME COUR.T REPORTS [1975) 2 s.c.R. Indeed, it is difficult to see how this public meeting could possibly have been held on 3rd March, 1971 within 48 hours before the date of polling. So far as the other _two_ public meetings., one at 'K' Block, Andha Mughal on 18th February, 1971 and other at Malka Gunj on 22nd February, 1971 are concerned, they also stand on the same footing and cannot be regarded as proved, because. there is no evidence at all lO show that these two public meetings were actually held pursuant to the permission grantr,d by the Sub-Division Magistrate. We may then refer to the 1~vidence of the CID officers summoned by the petitioner to prove· the holding of various public meetings by the first respondent.. The first witness belonging to this ~oup was Mahender Pal Singh (PW 20) who was an Inspector, CID Special Branch at Tees Hazari. He stated in his evidence that during the electiOn period his staff used to cover election meetings help by vari:ius political parties and they included public meetings held by the first respondent. Be further stated that the offic:ers who were sent to rover the public meetings used to attend them :and then submit, either on the basis of the shorthand notes taken down by them or from memory, reports of the speeches made at these public meetings. He was then asked to state from his r~s as to what were the public meetings held in the 8adar Parliamentary constituency which were covered by his staff. ;He, however, claimed privilege in respect o~ the records brought by hini and produced ;in affidavit of the Inspector General of Police in support of his claim of privilege. - The affidavit war plainly inadequa~ as it merely repeated the language of section.123 of the Evidence Act under which the privilege was claimc:d, without informing the Court as to how tho records in respect of which the privilege was claimed **fell** within the terms of. the section. The learned Trial Jµdge therefore rejected the claim for privilege based on this affidav.ii but gave a further, opportunity to the Inspector General of Police to file a proper affidavit claiming privilege on 4th January, 1972. It appears that the Inspector General of Police was not ready with his affidavit on 4th January 1972 and he askr,d for further time upto 10th January; 1972. The learned Trial Judge granted him time but made an order that the counsel for the Inspector General of Police: should give to the counsel of the peti· tioner by 5th January, 1912. "a list of the persons who were deputed to attend the Congress. election ·meetings in sadar Parliamentary CODS· tituency together with their present official addresses, the dates of the meetings attended, the times of the meetings and the list of the speakers at such meetings". In compliance with this direction, a chart containing the requisite particulars prepared from the records was handed over to the counsel for the petitioner on 5th January, 1972. This chart ll referred to twentv two public meetings held in support of the first respondent in Sadar Parliamentary ex>nstituencv and gave dates and places of these public meetings, the names of the speakers who spoke at these public meetinl!S ftnd the: officers who covered them The Inspector General of Police thereafter filed another affidavit.dated 6th January, 1972 claiming privilege on the ground that the records contained "the mental not~s and reports Of officials which are ma® bY .tmblic officers in the cour~.i of the discharge of their officihl duties", for the benefit A B ##### c D E F G **H** JI:. L. GUl'TA _V,_ A. N°. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _I.)_ 28 I of the CI,D Special .Branch and the practiee of keeping such documents was neces~l!Iy for the proper information of the CID Sepcial Branch, and the disclosure of. these· documents "wJuld lead to injury to public interest and prejudice the working of the CID Special Branch. And moreover, these documents were unpublished official records relating · .to. the affairs of the State". The learned Trial Judge, by an order dated 12th _January,_ 1972 upheld the claim of privilege made on the strength of this affidavit. The result was that the reports made by the officers who covered the public meetings o.f the first respondent, which comprised _inter_ _alia_ the mental_ notes made by . them, were shut. . out . fro~ the . petitioner . and a .. very valuable . piece ,of .evidence which would have established beyond doubt .what ·were the public itteetings held . by the first respondent was COV~red by them Jind the exclusion of the reports from the evidence is, therefore, really of not· much c;onsequence. Moreover, the chart furnished by the counsel for tl,ie Inspector· General of Police to the petitioner gives sufficient inform~tion as to the dates and pla1;es of the public meetings held in connection with the election of the jirst respon- ' dent and the names of the speakers who 'Spoke at tliese public meetings, The . petitioner made ·an aptilication to. the learned Trial Judge being IA No. 645 of 1972 for taking this chart in evidence and marking it as .an exhibit in the case but the learned Trial Judge, by an order ~:lated 20th April, 1972, rejected this application. We do not think the learned Trial Judge was right in rejecting this chart out of hand as document without T(. \ B #### _c_ D E f G H denie~ t~ the petitioner. - There can be . llQ ... doubt that . these ·reports \Vere made by· public servants .in discharge ot therr official duty and they were rele_vant under the first part of section .35 of the ,Evidence Act since they contained statements showing what ·were the public meetin~ held by the first respj>tulent. Vi~e _P.p;_ _p;_ Rtdd~ar v. _s. Perumal(I)._ But by r~n of the order made .by the learned Trial Judge upholding the claim of privilege, .these reports were removed from .the ken of the petitioner as well as the learned Trial Judge; .·. The petitioner contended befOre us that the learned Tria!Judge was in error ·in upholding the claim of privilege and that the reports should have been made available to the petitioner. There is great force iii thls con. teiltfon of the. petitioner becilU&e it is .difficult to see how, })arririg any· observations or· notings made. by: the officers by way of comment or opinion, the res1'of the reports eontaining factUal datacould prissibly . be regarded as privileged. The learned Trial Judge himSetf could have looked at the reports for . the purpose of satisfying himself as to what was the ·nature of the statements eontained in the reports. and whether . they were privileged, and if so, to what extent, but the }earned Trial Judge apparently did oot choose to do. However, it is not ne<;essary for us to decide this question of privilege and w.e. need not express any final opinion upo11 it, since we ful.d that the officers who covered these public meetin~ and made reports .have themselves given evidence on behalf of the petitioner and though they didsulfer,from the handicap that they could oot refresh their i:nemory . by looking at the reports, they have given fairly reliable evidence in regard to the public meetings (I) [1972! 2 S.C.R. 646 282 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975) 2 S.C.R· any evidentiary value whatever. It is clear that the entires in the reports made by the officers stating the dates and places of the public meetings covered by them and tlrn names of the speakers at those public meetings could not possibly be privileged and in fact, as appears clearly from the affidavit claiming privjlege, the Inspector General of Police did not claim: privilege in respect of these particulars entered in the reports. ·The claim fur privilege made by him was in respect of reports of speeches made at the public meetings since they were baseJ on mental notes and were not "verbatim copies OJf the speeches of the sp~akers". It was for this reason that the learned Trial Judge directed that a chart showing the dates and places of the public meetings and the names of the speakers should be compiled by the Inspector General of Police and handed over to the counsel for the petitioner. This. chart was obv~ousl y to be prepared from the official records in the possession of the· Inspector General' of Police which would be relevant under the first part of section 35 of the Evidence Act. When this direction was given by the learned Trial Judge, the first respondent did not raise any objection, though the furnishing of the chart would be clearly tantamount to production of the relevant parts of the official records containing particulars in . regard to the dates and places of the public meetings and the names of the speakers. The chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police in compliance with this direction of the learned Tri.al Judge was, therefore, clearly admissible in evidence. The Inspector General of ·Police, in fact, affirmed this chart in his affidavit claiming the privilege and said in paragraph 3 of that affidavit that the chart had been supplied to the counsel of the petitioner "through the witness Inspector Mohinder Pal Singh." It was suggested ·on behalf of the first respondent that there was nothing to show that 'this chart produced by the petitioner along with his application IA No. 645 of 1972 was the same as that given by the Inspector General of Police. But this suggestion is wholly untenable. It is nothing but an afterthought. No such plea was put forward by the first respondent· in reply to IA No. 645 of 1972. The first respondent did not dispute in the affidavit filed by him in reply to this application that the chart produced by the petitioner was not the same as that handed over to him by the Inspector General of Police. The first respondent then contended that if this chart were treated as evidence, he would be deprived of an opporturuty of cross-examining the CID officers who made the repJrts or maintained the official records from which the chart was prepared. But that is no argument, because even if the reports made by cm officers or the official records maintained by them had been produced by the Inspec:tor General of Police, they would have been admissible. in evidence under the first part of section 35 of the Evidence Act:, without any oral evidence as to their content.s being required to be given by the CID officers who made the reports or maintained the official records. The petitioner is, therefore, not unjustified in asking us to treat the chart as a piece of evidence with probative value, though it must be said that it is weak type of evidence and standing·bv itself without anythinJ! more, it cannot be regarded sufficient to establish the holding of ·a public meeting by the first respondent. It can, however, certainly be relied upon as a corroborative piece ·of evidence which may be considered alon,g with B ##### _c_ D E F G H A B ###### c D E F G II PW 8/3 cannot, therefore, be relied upon· as a circumstance for disbelieving the testimony of the CID officers in regard- to the holding of such public meeting. · The learned Trial Judge also relied "'.ery much on the evidence of the first respondent and his witnesses .denying the· holding of the public meetinizs deposed to by the CID officers but such denial by partisan and interested witnesses can have no meaning · in the face of positive evidence of the CID officers supported by the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police and no weight can. attach. to it. As observed by this Court in _Rahim_ _Khan_ _v._ _Kh,ursliid_ K. L, GUPTA _v._ A. N· CHAWLA _(.(Jhagwati,_ /.) 28 3 other evidence for the purpose of deciding whether a· particular public meeting was held in connection with election of the first respondent. We may now turn to consider the oral evidence of the CID officers in regard to the specific public meetings held in connection with the election of the first respondent. But before we do so, we may refer to one general cdhcism levelled by the learned Trial Judl!e for .disbelieving the oral evidence of the CID officers. Whenever a CID officer deposed to a public meeting held by the first respondent, which was not to be found in the lists PW 6/5, PW 7/1 and PW 813, the learned Trial Judge promptly rejected the evidence and refused to accept the puqlic meeting on the gro1md that if such a public - meeting had taken place, it would have certainly found a plaee in one of these :lists and the absence of· mention of it in' the~e .lists clearly indicated that it must not have taken place. This approach of the learned Trial .Judge is in our opinion en;oneous. It is obvious that,the lists Ex. PW 6/5, PW 7/;l and PW _$I_ 3 are not ~xhaustive. of ali the public meetings held within the jurisdiction 'Of. the re~pective police statipns. l'hey ·refer only to those public. meetqigs where .the polie¢ station staff W8$ sent for maintenance of law and prder. It is quife .possible. that there might have been other public meetings of which the wlice . station officers had no notice and which might not. have been. covered by the police station staff and hence not entered .in the registers. maintained by the· Police stations.· In fact, Umesh Chandra stated 'in. his evidence that in February 1971, twenty foµr election meetings were held within the· jurisdiction of his wlice station on behalf of various parties and yet the list Ex. PW 6/5 shows only eighteen public meetings. The absence of mention of a public meeting in the lists Ex. PW 6/5, PW 7 /l and PW 8 /3 cannot; therefore be a ground for disbelieving the testimony of an independent and disinterested witness like a CID officer. Moreover, it is difficult. to appreciate how the oral testimony of a witness can be .contradicted by a negative inference to be drawn from the absence of an entry in the register or list maintained by another witness, when that other witness 'has not stated in his evidence that his register or list was exhaustive and no other public meetings were held. It may also be noted that no question was put to any of the police station officers on behalf of the first respondent suggesting that the lists Exs. PW _615,_ PW 7 /l and PW 8/3 were exhaustive and no public meetings other than those shown in these lists were held within the respective jurisdictions of their police stations. The absence of men·. tion of a particular public meetinr, in the lists Exs. PW ~/5, PW 7 /1 and ~_hmed(2;_ ____ --- (1) C.A. 816 of 191.l, dee. on August 8, 1974. 284 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1975) 2 S.C.R· "Nf:gative evidence is ordinarily no good to disprove the factum of meetings." Turning to the oral evidence of the CID officers, the first CID -Officer to whom we must refer in this connection is Umesh Olander (PW 39). This witness stated that he covered several election meetings in Sildar Parliamentary constituency during the General Elections of i 971 and amongst others, he attended the public meeting'! at Chowk Chhe Tooti, Ghanta Ghar, Tel Mandi, Amarpuri (:olony, Chowk Azad Market and near Imperial Cinema. He could not give the dates of these public meetings from memory, bu~ it is clear from the chart fwnished by the Inspector General of Police to the petitioner that these six public meetings were held on 24th February, 16th February, 1971, 19th-February, 1971, 25th February, 1971, 26th February, 1971 and 22nd February, 1971. Out 'Of these six public meetings; three, namely, one at Chowk Chhe.Tooti on 24th February, 1971, the other at Ghanta Ghar on 16th February, 1971 and the third at Tel Mandi on 19th :February, 1971 were aniongst the . twenty three public meetings adniitted by the first respondent. So tar . as_ the public meeting near Imperial Cinema on 22nd February, 19'7'1 is concerned, that wa.s also, according to the first. respondent, included in the admitted twenty three public meetinp. lbe 'conten· tion of the first respondent was that this public meetmg was the same as the one at Chuna Mandi on 22~ February, 1971 admitted by him and was not an additional meeting. 'l'.his contention appears to be :well founded. It is clear from the irport of permissions Ex. PW 7 /3 that Imperial Cinema is in Chuna Mandi and in fact a permission was granted under Ex. PW 7 /3 for holdin.a; a public meeting in Chuna Mandi in front of Imperial Cinema on 17th February, 1971, tbaugh it was subsequently cancelled as appearing from the list EL PW 7 /1. The first respondent also stated in his evidence that there was a meeting in (.."'buna Mandi in front of Imperial Cinema on 22nd Feb ruary, 1971. The public meeting near Imperial Cinema on 22nd FebruEry, 1971 deposed to by Umesh Chandra was, therefore, the same .as the public meeting at Chuna Mandi admitted by the first respondent. That leaves for consideration two public meetingl!, one at Amarpuri Colony on 25th February, 1971 and the other at Chowk Azad Market on 26th February, 1971. Both these public meetings were disputed by the first respondent. But the evidence given by Umesh Chandra. (PW 39) supported by the relevant entries in the chart ·shows beyond doubt that these two public meetings were held by the first respondent. There was hardly any cross-exa~ation Qf Umesh Chandra (PW 39) o!'l this point. No suggestion was made to him that he was an interested witness and iildeed such a suggestion could ·not be made as he was a CID officer. It was not even put to him that these two public meetings did not take place as deposed to by him. The only question put to this witness was as to how he remembered the places of the public meetings deposed to by him and his frank answer was that the places of these public meetings were stated by him from memory. The.re is no reason why this witness should be disbelieved merely because he gave the places of the public meetings attended by him from memory. In fact, as pointed out above, the A B ##### c D E F G H E. r.. GUPTA _v._ A. N• CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ J.) 285 A chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police clearly · supports .his oral evidence. The learned Trial Judge rejected the evidence of this witness on two grounds. One ground was that this witness did not state that the public meetings deposed to by him were Congress meetings o~ the first respondent. This ground is fallacious, in that it overlooks the positive evidence given by this witness that the first . and fifth respondents spoke at these public meetings, though of course B he could not say whether both of them spoke in all the public meetings or in only some of them. Moreover, the chart furnished by the .Inspector General of Police shows the names of the speakers at these public ~etings and it is evident from these names that these public meetings were ''Congress meetings. of respondent No. l" .. The Other ground ~lied on by Jhe learned Trial Judge was that the claim .,.. of the petitioner in regard to the public meetings ·at Amarpuri colony "' and ChOwk Azad Market was belied by the list Ex. PW _615_ in which, according to the learned Trial Judge, the public meetings at these two places were stated to be of politM:al parties 'other' than the Congress or theJayi Sangh. Thi& ground is also untenable and for two reasons. In the first place, the list Ex. PW _615_ does not refer to any public meeting at Ainarpuri Colony on 25th February, 1971 or Chowk - Azad Market on 26th February, 1971 under the heading 'Others', I> and none of these two public meetings deposed to by Umesh Oiandra (PW 39) finds a place in list Ex. PW _615._ Secondly, as already p<>inted out above; the heading 'Others' does not indicate that a public meeting under that heading was a meeting of any individual or political party other than the Congress or the Jan Sangh. We must, . therefure, bold, ·on the strength of the evidence of Umesb Chandra (PW. 39) supported by the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police, E that in addition to the twenty three public meetings admitted by the first respondent, two further public meetings were held in connection .with· the election of the first respondent, namely one at Amarpuri Colony on i5th February, 1971 and the other at Clrowk Azad Market On 26th February, 1971. F The next witness whose evidence we must consider is Ranbir Singh (PW 49), who was at the material time a Sub-Inspector in CID Special Branch. He has stated that he covered three · or four efe<:tion meetings of the first respondent, and though he could . not remember the sequence, be asserted that these· election meetings were at Chowk Chhe Tooti, Clock Tower, Chowk Tatoo Shah Bagi.chi. - and Pahari Dhiraj. He further said that the :3rst G respondent spoke at all these public meetings and the fifth respondent also spoke at one or tw.o of them. He also gave the names of some of the other speakers at these four public meetin~ .. These four public meetings also find a place in the chart furnished ·by the Inspector General of Police and according to that chart, the public meetin~ at Chowk Qihe Tooti was held on 12th February, 1971 the public meeting at Chowk Tatoo Shah Bacichi was held on 15th H February; 1971, the public meeting at Clock Tower was held on 2nd March, 197r and the public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj was held on 27th February, 1971. The second and the third of. these public meet" ings w11re included in the twenty three public meetings admitted by 286 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975) 2 S.C.R· the fjrst respondent and the dispute was only as regards the first public meeting at Chowk Chhe Tooti on 12th February, 1971 and the f.ourth public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj on 27th February, 1971. We will first consider the position in regard to the public meeting at Pahari Dhfraj on 27th February, !971. · The learned Trial Judge rejected the evidence of Ranbir Singh (PW 49) in regard to this public meeting on the ground that the list Ex. PW _615_ showed this public meeting as "a meeting of political parties . other than the Congress and the JanSangh" and the first respondent had in his. evidence de11ied that any such public meeting was held by. him. We do not think that the · learned Trial Judge was justified in taking this. view. In the first place, if we look at the list Ex. PW _615_ it shows a public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj on 27th February, 1971 under the heading 'Others'. A B We. has already pointed out that the heading 'Others' does not mean .. . anything more than other meetings and merely because a particular .C: public meeting finds a place under. that heading, it does not mean that it was not a meeting o~ the Congress. The list Ex. PW _615_ does not, therefore, -in any way contradict the evidence of Rahbir. Singh (PW 49) on this point. Secondly, the evidence of Ranbir Singh (PW 4f}) .i~ supportd by the entry at serial No. 18 in the chart .furnished. by the Inspector General of Police which shows thar a public meeting was .held in support of the first resp.ondent at Pahari Dhiraj on 27th Feb ruary, 197.1 at which, amongst others,.respondents Nos. 1 !\nd 5 were the .speakers. Thirdly, there is no reason why an ·independ'ent. witness like Ranbir Singh (~V 49), who has absolutely no interest in the .result of the litigation one way or the other should be disbelieved. Jt is true .. that the places of the four public meetings deposed· to by him were mentioned in the summons served upon him and it was for that reason that he could give the names of these places in his evidence, but that does not (!etract from the value of his evidence, because unless these places mentioned in the summons were .correct, he would not have subscribed to them in his evidence; He would have said ·"I do not remember". But he gave evidence in regard to these pu'tllic meetings because he remembered though his memory was prodded by what was stated in the summons. He even gave the names of some of the speakers and deposed broadly to the arrangements made at these public meetings. Not even a suggestion was made to him that the public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj was a meeting of some other political party or indivi<,iual. It may also be noted that apart from Ranbir Singh (PW 49), Kundanlal (PW 27), and Chunnilal (PW 32) also deposed to the public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj and there is no reason why their evidence should not be accepted, particularly when Kundanlal (PW 27) was an independent witness without any political affiliation and Chunnilal (PW 32) was also a person belonging neither to the Congress nor to the Jan Sangh. We, therefore, hold that a public meeting at Pahari Dhiraj was held in connection with the election of the first respondent on 27th February, 1971. .D E F G. So far as the public meetin~ at Chowk Chhe Tooti on 12th Feb- H ru!ry, 1971 is concerned, it is clearly established by the. evidence . Ranbir Sinl!'h _<PW_ 49) supported by the entry af .serial No. l in the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police. It may .be noted K. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _!.)_ 28 7' that Ranbir Singh (PW 49) stated in his evidence that the speakers, at the public meeting at Chowk Chhe Tooti were. the first respondent, filth respondent, Shiv Charan Gupta a~d two or three others. This· statement tallies completely with the names of the speakers given in the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police against the entry at Serial No. 1. We do not see any reason why the evidence of Ranbir Singh (PW 49), who is a wholly independent witness should be .rejected and the denial of the first respondent; who is a party to the litigation; or his supporters should be preferred. It is true that there is no mention of this public meeting at Chowk Chhe Tooti in the list Ex. l>W 7/1, but, as pointed out above, the absence of mention of this public meeting in the list Ex. PW 7I1 cannot be a ground for disbelieving· the testimony of an independent and disinterested witness li.ke Ran?ir Singh (PW 49). We must, consequently, hold that a pubhc meetmg of the first respondent was held at Chowk Chhe Tooti on 12th February, 1971. We then go on to consider the evidence 'Of Daulat Ram (PW 42), who was also at the material time Sub-Inspector in the CID Special Branch. He said in his evidence that he coverecl two election meetings of the first respondent, one at Chm.vk Bara Tooti and the other at Hathikhanna, Bahadurgarh Road. · The chart furnisbed by the Inspector General of Police shows that the public meeting at Chowk Bara Tooti was held on 20th February, 1971, while the public meeting at Hathikhanna, Bahadurgarh Ro(!d was held oli 26th February, 1971. So far as· the public meetlng at Cbowk Bara Tooti on 20th February, 1971 is concerned, it was admitted by the first respondent, but 'the public meeting at Bahadurgarh Road on 26th February, 1971 was disputed and the first respondent denied that any such public meeting was held. by him. The evidence of Daulat Ram (PW 42) in regard to this public meetin.~ is, however, very clear and there is n·o reason why it should not be accepted, merely because he has deposed to this public meeting from memory. In fact the .memory of this witness was severely tested in cross-examination by the first respondent but he. stood the test firmly and was unshaken. There is nothing suggested as to why the testimony of this witness should be rejected. This witness not only deposed to the holding of .the public meeting at Bahadurgarh Road but actually gave the names of the speakers at t:his public meeting, namely, the first respondent, the fifth respondeni. Mir Mushtaq Ahmed and Sardar Wazir Singh. These names tally completely with the names of the speakers given in the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police. We also find that the list Ex. _615_ shows that a public meeting at · Bahadurgarh was held •Jn 26th February, 1971. 'lt is undoubtedly mentioned under the headiqg 'others' but; as we have already explained, this docs not mean that it could not be a meeting o~ the Congress. It is significant to note that not even a suggestion \V.as made to this witness that the public meeting at Babadurgarh was a meeting of some other p·olitical party or individual. Such a suggestion would obviously have been futile, beca'use the evidence of this witness was that .the only meetings he. covered were tbose of the. Congress and the Jan Sangh and this public meeting 0 A .B .D ·G H SUPltl!M:I! ootm'r · UPOOTS {1975] 2 S.<:.ll· . depose4 to by hin!. ~d not,. therefore, be" a meetin~ of any oth« P9litical party or mdmd?ill· ·we·~· th~efore,. satisfied beyond doubt that a public meeting at Hathikhaoa, Bahadurgarh Road was held OD! 26th February, 1971. isl connection with the election ofthe first respondent. The next witness in this group is Sukhbir Smgh (PW 46) who was at the material time a Head Constable in CID Special llranch. He said in his evidence that he covered one meeting of the first respondent in Sadar Parliamentary . constituency and that was a meeting at ChhOti Masjid, Bara Hindu ·Rao on 26th February, 1971. The speakers at this meeting, according to him, were 0. P. Jain, Mir Mushtaq Ahmad, Narendra Kumar and Dada Ataf-ur-Rahman. Th.is evidence clearly establishes the holding of this public meeting by the first respondent and there is no reason why it should m>t be accepted, particularly when we find that it has not been challenged at all in crossexamination by the first respondent. It is no doubt true that Subhash Arya (RIW 35), stated in his evidence that a public meeting was scheduled to be held at Bara Hindu Rao on 26th February, 1971, but it was cancelled because he could not arrange for any speakers at this public meeting. But we fail to see how this statement of Subhash Arya (RIW 35), who was admittedly a partisan witness,' could be preferred to tbe testimony of Sukhbir Singh (PW 46) who was wholly independent and disinterested, havirig no intere11t in the result of· th~ litigation. It may also be noted that ari application Ex. PW 6/1 for permission to hold thjs public meetini was made by Dr .. Ros~an Lal on 26th February, 1971, that is, on the same day Qn which this public meeting was· to be held and it is difficult to believe that such application could· have been mad«< by Dr. Roshan Lal in the -morning of 26th February, 1971 without makin~ the necessary arrangements for speakers at this public meeting which was to be held the same eveajll_g: The learned Trial Judge rejected the evidence C>f Sukhbir Singh (PW 46) in regard to this public meeting on the ground that this public meeting was shown in the list Ex, PW 615 as a meeting organised by other political parties and not by the Congress. But this ground is, with the. greatest respect. to the learned Trial Judge, wholly misconceived because we do not find any reference to this public meeting in the list Ex. 615 even under the heading 'Others'. Not onlx is the evi ~ence of this witness uncontradicted by any documentary evidence bi.it 1t actually finds support from the entry at Serial No. 16 in the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police where it is shown as a mectin.g held in support ofi the first respondent. The names of the speakers given by this witness also tally with the names set out against the entry at Serial No. 16 in the chart furnished by the Inspector General of Police. We must, therefore, accept the case of the petitioner that a public meeting at Chhoti Masjid, Bara Hindu Rao was held by the first respondent on 26th February, 1971. Th.at takes us to the evidence of Shyam Singh (PW 45) who was a~ the~ material time posted in the CID Special Branch. He said in his evidence that. he CQVer;<I tw,o public meetin~ of the first rc,,pondcnt, one at atow~ Nab1 Karim on 26th February, 1971 and the A n ##### c D G H It L, GUPTA _v._ A. N· CHAWt.A _(B/ulawati,_ /.) 28 & A B ##### c D E F G Stand, Pahar Gunj on 2nd March, 1971 . These two public meetings are shown as having been held in support of the first respondent in the entries at Serial Nos. 4 and 21 in the chart furnished by Inspector General of Police. The CID officer who, according to th,i.s. Chart, covered these two public meetings was Umesh Chandra (PW 39) but since Umesh Chandra (PW 39) was precluded from referring to. the reports made by him contemporaneously for the purpose of q:freshing his memory and required to give evidence only on the basis of what he recalled, he omitted these t)Vo public meetin,gs in the evidence given by him. There was also no other evidence in support Qf these two public meetings. . The case of the petitioner, therefore, rested only on the entries at Serial Nos. 4 and 21 in the chart supplied' by ilie Inspector General of Police. But as pointed out above, this chart is definitely week piece of evidence and it would not be correct to rely upon it as substantive evidence for the Qu.,rpose of .holding, on the strength of its evidentiary value alone without anything .more, other at Chowk: Neemwalp. in Nabi Karim on 2nd ~arch, 1971. '.l'he second public meeting at Chowk . Neemwala on 2nd March 1971 was included in the twenty three public meetings admitted by .the first respondent, but the first public meeting at C)lowk Nabi ~ held on 26th February, 1971 was disputed by him and the case of the first respondent was that no such public meeting was held. We do not see any reason why the evidence of Shyam Singh (PW 45) in regard to the public meeting at Chowk Nabi Karim on 26th February, 1971 should not be accepted. If we look at the cross-examination of this witness by the first respondent, we do not find any challenge at all to the statement of. this witness in regard to the holding of this public meeting. Moreover, the evidence of this witness is supported by the statement of Chunni Lal (PW 32) in cross-examination tha~ the Congress held a public meeting _inter_ _alia_ at Nabi Karim Chowk. But more than this support from the oral evidence of Chunni Lal (PF 32) is the corroboration to be found in the chart furn.ished by the Inspector General of Police. The entry at Serial No. 14 in this chart clearly supplies authenticity and veracity to the evidence .of Shyam Singh (PW 45) that this public meeting did take place as claimed by the !)etitioner. The names of the speakers given by this witness in his oral evidence find a place amongst the speakers mentioned in this chart. There can, therefore, be no doubt despite the denial .· _of_ the first respondent, that a public meeting at the Cho'!Vk near the Police Post, Nabi Karim was held by the first respondep,t on 26th February, 1971. The petitioner also claimed that two other public . meetings were held by the first respondent in connection with his election, one at Chowk Singhara on 28th February, 1971 and the other at Tanga. that. these two public ·meetings, namely one at C'nowk · Singhara on 18th February, 1971 and the other at Tanga Stand, Pahar _Gunj_ on 2nd March, 1971 were held in support of the election of the first respondent. H - . Then there were three other public meetings claimed by ·the petitioner to have been held by the fust respondent, namely one at · 290 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [197-5] 2 S.C.R· Katra Karim on 17th February, 1971, the other at Chu.na Mandi near Imperial Cinema on 17th February? 1971 .and the thtrd at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971. There 1s no evidence at .all to ~ho~ that these three public meetiqgs were held; The only piece pf evidence on which the petitioner could place reliance was the copy of the report Ex. PW 7 /3 which showed ~he permission gran!ed by t~e Sub-Divisional Magistrate to the Congress to ho!~ certa!11 - public meetings which included _inter_ ~I~ thes~ thre,e public meetings: **But** from the mere factum of perm1ss10n, without any further evidence, we cannot come to the conclusion that these three public meetings were held in connection with the election 'Of the first respondent. The same position obtains in regard to three other public meetings claimed by the petitioner., namely, one al 'K' Block Andha Mughal on 18th Febniary, 1971 the other at Malka Gunj on 22nd February, 1971 and the third at Ghanta Ghar on 3rd March, 1971. There is no eviqence in support 'Of these three public meetings. What we have are only the applications for per.mission to hold these three public meetings and they are clearly insufficient to establish that these three public meetings were held. In fact, the public meeting at Ghanta Ghar on 3rd March, 1971 could never have been held because of the .ban on public meetings within forty eight hours before the date of polling. We then proceed to .consider the public meeting which, according to the petitioner, was held in Gulabi Bagh. The only evidence in support of this public meeting is a reference to it in the bill of Agar.v»al Tent House, Ex. R-26. But, as we shall presently sho.w, this bill of Agarwal Tent House cannot be regarded as genuine and it would n1Jt, therefore, be correct to base any findin_~ 9n a statement contained in it. In the absence of any positive evidence on behalf of the petitioner in support of this public meeting, the denial of the first respondent must be accepted. We, therefore, reject the case of the petitioner that a pubilc meeting was held \Jy the first respondent at Gulabi A B ###### c _D_ Bagh. F That takes us to the public meeting at Pulbangash on 26th February, 1971. Ex. PW 6/1 is the application made by Dr. Roohan Lal for permission to hold a public meeting at Chowk Pu! Bhangash on 26th .February, 1971 and in the absence of any _evidence to the contrary, we must presu:ne that the permission, applied for was granted. The list Ex. PW 6/5 shows that a public meeting was held at Pu! Bangash on 26th February **0** 1971. The refrence to this public ' meetincr is under the head~ ing 'Others', but, as we have already discussed.'this circumstance does not militate ~gainst thi~ public. meeting being a meeting of the Congress. Then there 1s the pos1t1v.e eVIde_nce of Jnder Mohan Bharadwaj (PW 30) that thc:·e was a public meetmg o~ the first respondent at Pu! Ban• gash on 26t~ February, 1?7~ an? wh~n ~e was passing along, he saw pamphlets, h k~ annexure A, bemg distributed a:t this public meeting II It .appear;~ that t~e statement of this witness in regard to the factum of this pubhc meetmg was not challenged in cross-examination on behalf **B** ###### c **D'** E **F** X. L. GUPTA _v._ A· N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _**l.)**_ **291** of the first respondent. The only challenge was to the accuracy of - what he saw at this public meeting. When we turn to the evidence led on behalf of the first respondent in regard to this public meeting, we fj.nd a very interesting feature which is eloquent of the truth. Om l'rakash Makkan (RIW 1) admitted in his cross-examination on 4th Pebruary, 1972 that he we.nt to another meeting of the first respondent and the place where this meeting was held was Pul Bangash. But his cross-examination was not completed on 4th February, 1972. It was continued on 7th February, 1972 and in the course of the further cross-examination on that day, he seized the opportunity to go· back on his previous admission and tried to explain it away by saying: "I did not see any meeting at Pul Bangash. I had gone there to see Tirlocllan Singh. When I went there I saw 20 or 25 people coming back. I asked them whether Tirlochan Singh was there and was informed that Tirlochan Singh was not there. Amongst the people returning was my brother-in-law Dina Nath and he told me that there had been a meeting in some house". This was a crude and clumsy attempt to explain away an admission unwittingly made and. it cannot deceive us. The admission of the witness stands unimpaired and there can be no doubt thatitrepresents the truth. When Subhash Arya (RIW 35) was cross-examined in regard to thi~ public meeting, he admitted that this public meeting was scheduled to Qe held at Chowk Pu! Bangash on. 26th February, 1971, but it could not be held because he was not able to arrange for any speakers. This·statement of SubhashArya (RIW35) clearly implies that the permission for hold ing this public meeting was obtained, but the reason for not holding it was different. we, however' find it difficult to believe that this public. meeting could not be. held on account of want of speakers. It is a most unconvincing explanation given by Subhash Arya (RIW 35) for the purpose of explaining away this public meeting. In - f~, ' - the list Ex. PW 6/5 clearly shows that a public meeting was held at Pul Bangash on 26th February, 1971, We are, therefore, satisfi~d from evidence on record that this public meeting was held in connection .with the electicin of the first respondent. The claim ~f the petitioner in regard to the public meeting said to have been held by the first respondent at Sadar Nala-Road on 15th February, 1971 'is, however, not well founded. There is no evidence at all to show that this public meeting was held. The only piece of evidence on which the petitioner could rely was the intimation Ex. **G** PW 6/2 given ·by the Superintendent of Police, North District, Delhi to the Deputy Inspector General of Police; Delhi that the .Congress had decided to hold.·a public meeting at Sadar Nala Road on 15th February, 1971 and assistance should be provided to the local police in maintaining Law and order. But.from this piece of evidence alone, without anytliing more, it cannot be concluded that the public meeting referred to in this intimation was in fact held. Subbash Arya· (RlW **H** 35) stated in his evidence .that a .public meeting was undoubtedly scheduled to be held at Sadar Nala. Road on 15th February, 1971, but it had to be. cancelled because no arrangement could be made in regard to speakers. This statemcqt of Subhash Arya (RIW.35) stands _4-M2SS_ Sup. CI/75 292 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 5.C.R. uncontroverted by any positive evidence on behalf of the petitioner in regard to the holding of this public meeting, unlike the case in re. gard to the public rn.P.eting at Pul Bang~s~ on 26th February, 197!. We, therefore, reject the claim of the pet1t1oner that any such public meeting was held at Sadar Na!a Road on 15th February, 1971. A We have discussed the evidence in regard to the number Of B public meetings held in connection with the election of the first respandent in great detail because we are taking a view different from the one taken by the learned Trial Judge and, in all fairness to the learned Trial Judge as well as to the fir$t respondent, we think it necessary that we should articulate our reasons fully. The above discussion shows that in addition to the twenty three public mP.etings admitted by the :first respondent, nine further C public meetings were held at the following places and on the following dates, namely : l. Amar Puri Colony on 2. Chowk Azad Market on - 3. Chhoti Masjid, Bara Hindu Rao 4. Pahari Dhiraj on _S._ Chhe Tooti on 6. Hathi Khana, Bahadurgarh Road on . 7. Near Ji'olice Post, Nabi Karim on 8. Multani Dhanda on . 9, Pu! Bangash on 26-2-1971 26-2-1971 26-2-1971 27·2-1971 12-2-1971 26-2-1971 26-2-1971 22-2-1971 26-2-1911 D The first respondent owned the re~ponsibility for expenses in E iespect of the twenty thre:e public meetings admitted by him and the only question coulll be in regard to the expenses of the additional nine meetings above-mentioned. · It was not the case of the first respondent that any public meetiµgs were held in connection with his election which were financ:ed by the Congress or any other individual. The first respondent in fact admitted in his cross-examinatioh that he _"bore thi_ _ex.penses of all th.e_ _election meetings in_ _my_ _constituency"._ F There can, therefore, be no iscope for the argument that thi: expenses. of any of those nine public meetings wero nict by any organisation or individual othor than the :first respondent. In any event, even if the expenses of some out of these nine public meetings were incurred by the District-Pradesh Congress Committee c,>r any other branch of th'} Congro>s org:misation or any other fr.iond or; supporter, such expenses must be ht1ld to be authorised by tho first respondent, be- G cause . the first respond.ent knowingly took advantage of such public meot~ngs _by_participating_ _in_ _tltem_ ~d con~nted to or at any rate, acqmesced m such expenses and, in any Vlow of the matter, failed to disavow themi The question which wo must, therefore, proceed to consider is as to what were tha expenses incurred or authorised by the first r11spondent in connection with those twenty three plus nine public meetings. H Now, the first respondent disclosed in his return of expenses only three amounts, namely,, Rs. 180/-, paid .to Tandon Tent. and A B #### _c_ D E F G H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A· N•. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _1.)_ 293 Furniture House, Rs. 180/- paid to Saini Electric Works and Rs. 440/- paid to Agarwal Tent House, and his case was that these were the ol\ly three amounts spent by him in connection with his public meetings which were twenty three in number. Since we have held . that nine more public meetings were held in addition to the twenty three admitted by the first respondent, it must follow that the first respondent suppressed the expenditure incurred or authorised by him on these nine further public meetings. What should be the approach of the Cclurt when the Court finds that certain items of expenses are suppressed by a candidate is a matter which we shall presently discuss. But before we do that, we must examine the question whether the expenditure shown by the first respondent _in connection with twenty three public meetings admitted by him is genuine. Did the first respondent spend only three amounts of Rs. 180/-, Rs. 180/· and Rs. 440/- in connection with these public meetings or these amounts represent a veiry much lower figure than what was actually spent by the first respondent. The expenditure of these amounts was sought to ~ supported by the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House, the receipt of Saini ~lectric Works and the bill of Agarwal Tent House. The case of the first respondent was that furnishings in connection with twelve public meetings were supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and electric equipment by Saini Electric Works and furnishings and electric equipment in connection with the remaining eleven public meetings were supplied by Agarwal Tent House. However, strangely enough, when. the first respondent was asked in crossexamination, he could not say as to which were the public meetings to which Tandon Tent & Furniture House and Saini Electric Works supplil!d furnishings and electric equipment and which were the public meetings to which furnishings and electric equipment were supplied by Agarwal Tent House. If in fact, furnishings and electric equipment were supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House, Saini _Electric Works and Agarwal Tent House and the arrangements with these three firms· had been made personally by the_ first respondent, as claimed by him in his· evidence, it is difficult to understand. why the first respondent could not specify the public meetings. catered by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and Slini Electric Works and the public meetings catered by Agarwal Tent House ... Surely, the first respondent must ha:ve maintained some records to. show to which public meetings, furnishings . and electric eq\lipment wer~ supplied by these three firms; otherwise, how could he have checked whether the bills submitted by these three firms were correct. The inability to produce the records and to particularise the specific public. meetings catered by these three firms is a factor which throws co11sider able doubt on· the genuineness of the story of the first respondent that furnis~ings and electric equipment were supplied by these three firms. It 1s also rather strange that the first respondent could not - give particulars of the furnishings and electric equipment actually supplied by those three firms. It may also be noted that the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House was sought to be proved by the first respondent by examining Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14), the sole proprietor of that firm as a 294 SUPlEME cOUllT REPORTS (1975] 2 s.C.R. witness. But so far as the receipt of Saini Eleetric Works and the bill of Agarwal Tent House were concerned, the first respondent did not call any representatives of these two firms to give tvidence an<l prove the corttents of these documents. Since the correctness and genuineness of these documents was challenged on behalf of the petitio11er, the first respondent'ought to have summoned the representatives of these two firms and Jed their evidence for the purpose of . establishing that in fact they supplied furnishings and electric equipment Md charged no more than the amounts shown in these documents. The first respondent; however, did not choose to do so· and preferred to rest his case marely on his oral testimony which was so vague and evasive as .not to give even the particulars of the specific public meetings at which furnishings and electric equipmei:t were supplied by the different firms. It may also be pointed out that so far as Saini Electric Works is concerned, not even the bill of this firm was attempted to be produced by the first respondent. The receipt of this firm which was produced from the rec.ords of the Chief Electoral Officer-merely showed a sum of Rs. 180/- as having been received from the first respondent "oil account of loudspeaker. and light arrangements for the period from 20th Febrµary, 1971 to 2nd March, 1971", It did not show where "loudspeaker and light arrangements" were supplied, what was the number of public meetings at whic:h the supply was made, how many loudspeakers were supplied and what was the nature and extent of the lighting arrangements made at each public meeting. The rate at which ''loudspeaker and light arrangements" were supplied was also not mentioned in the receipt. The receipt also did not refer to supply of microphones and, therefore, presumably, microphones were not supplied by Saini Electric Works and the amount of Rs. 180/· did not cover any charges on that account. The evidence of Subhash Arya (RIW 35) also exposes the intirmities in the-case of tho first respondent on this point. Subhash Arya (RIW 35) in his evidence made a distinction between big public meetings and small public meetings and stated that "for big public meetings respondent No. 1 had instructed him to place an order with Tandon To!lt House to supply furniture etc. other than electricity. Electricity material was supplied by Saini Bloctrical Works. For smaller .Public moetinp tho furniture etc. used to bo supplied by Agarwal Tent House' . 1beso were, ac.cording to this witness, twelve big public meetings. and eight out of these big public meetings, were held at Clock Towor, Bara Tooti, Qowk Nccmwala, Tel Mandi, Cbho Tooti, Chuna Mandi, Kasabpura and Deputy Gunj, and the remaining four, in Pahar Gunj. It is clear fooin ·the particulars of the twenty three public meetings admitted by the fi.rSt. respondent th.at out of the afor~sald eight big public meetings referred to by this w1tnciss, three wore held prior to 20th February, 1971, one at Clock Tower on 16th.February, 1971, the other at Toi Mandi on '19th February, .1971 and the third at Kasabpura on 18th February, 1971. Now, if furnishings at big public meetings were. supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House, as, claimed by Subhash Arya (RIW 3S), it must follow that furnishings at these three big public meetings held at Clock _B_ ##### c D E F G B B ##### c D E F G H L L. GUPTA _v,_ A· N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /,) 295 Tower, Tel Mandi and Kasabpura prior to 20th February, 1971 must also have been supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House.· But . the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House shows that furnishings were supplied only at "12 public meetings held in the mont~ 20/2/71 to 2/3/71" and no furnishings were supplied at any public meetings held prior to 20th February, 1971. If that be so, Tandon Tent & Furniture House could 11.ot possibly have supplied furnishings at tho three big public meetings held at Clock Tower, Tel Mandi and Kasabpura prior to 20th February, 1971. This casts grave doubt on the case of the first respondent that furnishings were supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House at twelve public meetings held by the first respondent and irresistibly leads to the. conclusion that the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House is, to say the least, highly suspicious. The case of the first respondent in regard to furnishings and electrical equipment supplied by Agarwal Tent. House, also suffers from the same infirmity. Agarwal Tent House, according . to Subhash Arya (RIW -35), supylied furnishings and electrical equipment at smaller public meetings. The public meeting at 'P' Block, Andha Mughal on 1st March, 1971 was admittedly a small public meeting and, therefore, if the case of the first respondent were true, furnishings and electrical equipment at this public meetings should have been supplied by Agarwal Tent House. But the bill of Agarwal Tent House showed that furnishings and electrical equipment were supplied by that firm only at eleven public meetings _held_ _in_ _the_ _month_ _of February,_ 1971. It is, therefore, obvious· that, according to this bilJ, furnishings and electric equipment could.not have been supplied by Agarwal Tenf House at this public meeting held on 1st March, 1971. The bill of Agarwal Tent House thus does not fit in with the evidence and it is difficult to accept it as genuine. The only way in. which the first respondent tried to get out of this rather difficult situation was by saying that the distinction made by Subhash Arya (RIW 35) between big meetings.and small meetings was a distinction without a difference made under some misapprehension and this explanation appealed to the learned Trial Judge. But it is difficult to see· how one could explain away this distinction . in such a casual manner, when Subhash Arya (RIW 35) put forward this distinction deliberately and advisedly as part of tho case of the - first resp0ndent and there was nothing in his evidence to suggest that it was made under any misapprehension. Then again, it may bo noted that the bill of Agarwal Tent 'House referred to two public meetings, one at Gulabi Bagh and tho othe~ at - :Sadar Bazar and charged for furnishings and electric equipment said to have· been supplied at these two public mootings. The first res· pondont, however, denied that any public meeting was held by·him at Sadar Bazar and in the absence of any positive evidence to the contrary, - we must accept this denial as correct. So far as the public meeting alleged to have been held at Gulabi Bagh is concerned, the first responilcnt at one place in his evidence disclaimed any knowledge as _t9_ where Gulabi Bagh was situate, but subsequently, in the course or his crosa-oamination, ho unwittingly blurted out that Gulabi Bagh was 296 SUPREME COUP.T REPORTS [1975] 2 5.C.R. at a distance of two or two and a half-miles from the sho~ of Agarwal Tend House, which means that he knew . where Gulab1- Bagh was. Now, according to the list of twenty three public meetings given by the first respondent, there was no public meeting at Gulabi Bagh and yet the bill of Agarwal Tent House referred to a public meeting at Gulabi Bagh. The first respencfont was, therefore, constrained to put forwar~ a rather ingenious explanation in the course of arguments that Gulab1 Bagh was in the area known as Andha Mughal and the reference in the Ml of Agarwal Tent House was, therefore, to the public meeting in Andha Mughal. But this explanation is palpably incorrect, because the only two public meetings out of those admitted by the first respondent which took place in Andha Mughal were at 'P''Block, Andha Mughal and 'K' Block, Andha Mughal, and Gulabi Bagh, Andha Mughal is clearly and indisputably a different area from 'P' Block or 'K' Block, Andha Mughal. There was, therefore, no public meeting of the first respondent held at Gulabi Bagh. The bill of Agarwal Tent House which refers to the public meetings at Gulabi Bagh and Sadar Bazar cannot,. in the circumstances, be looked upan as a document inspiring confidence and no reliance can be placed upon it. A B #### c ·' . There are also certain other infirmities which stare us in the face if D we examine the matter a little mor~ closely. The bill of Agarwal Tent House showed a lump sum of Rs. 100/-for cartage charges and a lump sum of Rs. 40/- for labour charges in respect of furnishings and electrical equipment supplied at eleven public meetings held by the first respandent. That would mean that an aggregate sum of Rs. 300/was charged by Agarwal Tent House to the first respondent by way of hire for furnishings and electrical equipmen(and the rate of hire thus E came to about Rs. 27 /- per public meeting. So far as the bill of Tandon Tent & Furnitute House is concerned, it did not make any separate mention of cartage 01 labour charges in respect of furnishings supplied at twelve public meetings of the first respondent. The explanation of the first respondent as well as Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14), the sole proprietor of this firm, was that the rate of Rs. 15/- per public meeting mentioned in this bill was inclusive of cartage and labour charges and p that is why these charges were ilot separately shown as in the bill of Agarwal Tent House. Obviously, some such explanation had to be given by the first respondent, because no separate amount in respect of cartage and labour charges was shown by him in his return of expenses. But that exposes completely the dubious character of the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House. The cartage and labour charges, according to the bill of Agai:wal Tent House, were R.~. 13/- per public meet- G ing. We will assume in favour of the first respondent that the cartage and labour charges in respect of furnishings supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and the electrical equipment supplied by Saini Electrical Works were the same, namely, Rs. 13/- per public meeting, even though the furnishings supplied by Tendon Tent·& Furniture House were in much greater quantity than those supplied by Agarwal Tent House. But even on that minimal footing, the aggre- H gate charges by way of hire for furnishings supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and electric equipment supplied by Saini Electric Works would come to Rs. 17/- per public meeting. Is it not strange A B ##### c D E F G H K. L. GUPTA _V,_ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /,) . 297 and almost incradible that the hire charges for furnishings and electri ~al equipment supplied by Agarwal Tent House at small public meetmgs should be Rs. 27 /- per public meeting while the hire charges for furnishings supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and electrical equipment supplied by Saini Electric Works at big public meetings should be only Rs. 17 /- per public meeting. The furnishings supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House were admittedly much more in quantity then those supplied by Agarwal Tent House and, therefore, the hire chargos of Tandon Tent & Furniture H<Suse and Saini Electric Works should have been higher than those of Agarwal Tent House. But strangely enough they were lower by about Rs. 10/- per public meeting. It would be straining our credulity to the utmost to accept this fantastic theory. We may a\iio point out that it is rather strange that the first res· pondcnt should have entered into arrangements with Tandon Tent & Furniture House and Agarwal Tent House to supply fixed items of furnishingsi, irrespective of the nature or size of the public meeting. Would the nature and quantity of the items of furnishings required at a public meeting not depend on the place or locality in which the public meeting is to be held-whether the audience expected would be large or small ? This is of course not a circumstance on which we place much reliance but it cannot be said to be wholly without significance. 1nen again it may be noted that the rate of about Rs. 27 /per public meeting by way of hire for furnishings and electric equipment supplied by Agarwal Tent House as also the rate of Rs. 15/· per public meeting for furnishings supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House and the rate of Rs. 15/· per public meeting for oloctri· cal equipment supplied by Saini Electric Works-both the latter rates being _inclusive_ _of labour_ _and_ _cartage_ _c!1arges-are_ absurdly low and can hardly be regarded as genuine. It was not the case of the first respondent that the rates charged by these throe firms were concessional rates. In fact, Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14). who is tho proprietor of Tandon Tent & Furniture House, stated in his evidence that the rates charged by him from the first respondent were the usual market rates. If we look at the bills Bxs. PW 15/l·A, PW 15/1-B and PW 15/1-C produced by Permed Kumar (PW 15), it is clear that the market rates particulatly for the supply of olctrical equipment were very much higher than those shown to have been charged by these three firms. We may then examine the evidence of Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14), who came as a witness on behalf of the first respondent. He stated in his evidence that he did not receive any orders from the first respondent to &upply furnishings during the election but it was Subhash Arya (RIW 35) who placed orders with him "to arrange for furniture for election meetings of respondent No. l". He deposed that the bill in respect of furnishings supplied by him was submitted by him to the firs't respdndcnt and he received payment of the amount of the bill against the receipt Ex. R-8. He was severely cross-examined on behalf of the petitioner and in his cross-examination, he admitted 298 SUPllEMB COUU RBPORTS that even during the px·ev.ious elections he had w0rkod for the first respondent who had stood as a candidate on behalf of the Congress. He stated that he maintained only a bill book, a ledger and a cash book and he produced these books of account in Court. The bill book contained the carbon copies of the bills issued by the witness during the period 6th February, 1971to21st March, 1971. The bill for the furnishings supplied to the first respondent bore the numbet 8i70 and a carbon copy of it found a place in the bill book. This bill was for Rs. 180 and it was dated 4th March, 1971. There were carbon copies of bills Nos. 8167, 8168 and 8169 in tho bill boo!C which all bore the date 4th March, 1971. The aggregate amount of these four bills, name!¥, Bills Nos. 8167, 8168, 81('9 and 8170, came to Rs. 189 •75 and this aggregate amount appeared to have been carried to the cash book and entered on the credit side under the date 4th March, 1971 at page 93 of the cash book. The particulars of this entry in the cash book showed that tho amount of Rs; 189 ·75 was credite4 as representing cash received in rilspc.ct of biUs Nos. 8167 to 8170. This amount of R. 189 ·75 was thon ·carried to the ledger at paga 15 and credited in the account A ##### c D E F G H hoadeil·"~h Hire in respect of Goods" under the dato 4th March, 1971-. N15w,ifthese entries in the cash book and the ledger are genuine, they would go a long way to support the genuineness of the bill No. 8170 said to have been submitted by Tandon Tent & Furniture House to the first respondent. But, we do not think we can, with any,degree of confidence, place reliance on these entries. It is well known in book· keeping that it is the cash book which is the primary book and the ledger is only a subsidiary book which is always prepared from the cash book at periodic intervals. We must, therefore, first examine whether the entry of Rs. 189 ·75 in the cash book can be regarded as genuine. This entry in the cash book shows that the amount of Rs. 189 ·75 was received in cash on 4th March, 1971 ·in respect of bills Nos. 8167 to 8170. That would moan that the amount of Rs. 180/- in respt;ct of bill No. 8170 was received by Tandon Tent & Furniture House from the first r11spondent in cash on 4th March, 1971. But, if we look at the original bill No. 8170, we find an endorsement at the foot of that bill showing that the amount of that bill, namely, Rs. 180/·, was paid to Tandon Tent & Furniture House on 7th April, 1971. That is also bl)rne out by the receipt R-8 dated 7th April, 1971 said to have been passed by Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14) on behalf of Tandon Tent & Furniture House in favour of the first respondent. But, if the amount of the bill was paid by the first respondent to Tandon Tent & Furniture House on 7th April, 1971, it is difficult to see ho·w it could be shown in the cash book as havin~ been received on 4th March, 1971. In fact, if we look; at the cash book, 1t is apparent, even to the naked eye, that the whole of it seems to have been written out in the same ink at one and the same time. Wo have in the course of our experience ye~ to come. across a genuine ca~h book written with such neatness, uniformly with the same pen and m the same shade of ink over a hundred pages. We cannot place any reliance on the entry of Its. 189 ·75 under date 4th March, 1971 at pago 93 of the cash book and the corresponding entry at page IS of the ledger must also likewise be regarded as unreliable. It is no doubt true that the bill book produced by Bhaginal Tandon (RIW 14) contained a carbon copy of bill No. 8170 alleged IC. L. GuPTA _v._ Ao N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ /.) 2 99 A .B ##### c D .F G ff Ot\totod by his firm were hold. He said in his evidence quite unwittingly that he used to receive chits or telephone calls _"containing_ _require-_ ~s for the election meetings of respondent No. 1". But immedia• tely realising that he had slipped into a rather inconvenient statement ht corrected himself.by saying that the chits which were received merely indicated the places where the material had to be supplied and it had already been agreed. as to what he was supposed to supply at each public meeting. When asked to· produce thesa chits, he stated that they had not been retained by him and were destroyed as soon as the fiilal account was made up on 4th March, 1971. It may be noted that the version of Om Prakash Makkan (RIW l)in this connection was a littk different. Ho did not support tho story of chits, but stated that "our volunteers used _to go and specify_ _the requirement for each meeting"._ Thon Bhagmal Tandon (RlW 14) was questioned whether any receipts were obtained evidencing delivery of the ful'I\ishings to the represen· tatives of the. first respondent. He first blundered into the statement that he maintained copies but immediately resiled from it by saying that he maintained a bound book of printed forms and evr;ry time that a _thelewala_ went to deliver furnishings at a public meeting, he would toai' off a printed form from this bound book and ~ive it to the- _.thelewala_ to obtain the signature of the person who received the furnshings and the _thelewala_ would bring back that printed form duly signed by, such person. No copies of these printed forms of receipt . were, however, maintained by him and the originals were torn off by him after the account was settled with the first respondent on 4th March, 1971. He was then cross-examined with reprd to payment of cartage charges to the. _lhelewalas._ He stated that he used to pay the _thelewalas_ at the rate of Ro. 1/· or Rs. 1 ·SO for each one way trip and thus, according to him, the cartage charges came to about Rs. 3/· per each return trip. Since tho cartage chal'ges of Rs. 3/· per each return trip would boa legitimate business expenditure incurred by him which he would bo entitled. to claim by way of deduction in b, is,i:nceme to have been issued by Tandon Tent & Furniture House to. the first respondent. But we are not at all satisfied about the genuineness of this bill. We have already set out some of the reasons why we find it difficult to accept this bill as genuine. We may add two or three more reasons for taking this view. In the· firs\ place, if we look at the bill book, it is evident that this is the only bill which has been made out in English. The rest of the bills are all in Urdu. Secondly, it is apparent fsom the receipt Ex. R-8-and this Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14) was forced to ~dmit in crpss-examination-that the bill number originally written in that receipt was different and it was struck off and in its place bill No. 8170 was mentioned. That raises a certain amount . of suspicion as to ilie genuineness of bill No. 8170. Then again it is rather strange that Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14) should have no record in his possession to show which were the public meetings at which furnishings were supplied by his firm and what were the dates on which such public meetings .were held. It is also suprising that bill No. 8170 submitted by him to the first respondent should not mention the dates and places of the public meetings at which fumishings were sup J)lied by his firm. Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14) could not even state . from memory as to which were the places at which the public meetings 300 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.c.R. tax assessment, he was asked whether· it was recorded in his account books, But he was not in a position to show any entries in the account books relating to payment of the cartage charge~ and he was, theI~· fore, constrainecl to say that he used to make this payment from his pocket and did not record it anywhere in his books. This is an explanation which is difficult to swallow. No business man would fail to show in his account books expenditure incurred by him in the course of his business which he can claim as a deduction in his income tax assess· ment. We are, therefore, not at all satisfied that furnishings were supplied by Tandon Tent & Furniture House as claimed by the first respondent and Bhagmal Taridon (RIW 14) and we cannot accept bill No. 8170 alleged to hav<t been submitted by that firm to the first res· pondcnt a.1 genuine. Since, in the view taken by us, the bills of Tandon Tent & Furniture House ar.d Agarwal Tent House and the receipt of Saini Electric Works do not appear to be genuine and they do not correctly show the expenses incurred by the first respondent in regard to the twenty three public meetings admitted by him, it becomes necessary for us to inquire what wcx·e the expenses actually incurred by the first respondent in connec· tion with the twenty three public meetings admitted by him as also nine further public meetings proved to have been held in support of his elqction. Now, except in case of two public meetings, one at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971 and the other at Chuna Mandi on 22nd Fcbruary,!197l no evidence was led on behalf of the petitioner to show the actuar expanses incurred by the fust rospondcnt in regard to any of these public meetings. Indeed, tho petitioner could not pos· sibly lead any . such evidenco, because what expenses were actually incurred would bo a mattor within tho special knowled$c of the first respondent. Bnt that does not mean that on the m".tor1al. on record, the Court cannot arrive at a reasonablo estimate of tho expenses incur· red by the first respondent. It is now well s.ettled by the decision of this Court in _Megraj Patadia_ v. _B. K. Bir/a,_ (1) that "if the court comes to the conclusion that an item of expenditure has been suppressed in the return of election expenses, the more fact that there is no sufficient evidence aboutthe amount that must have been spent is not ground for ignoring the matter. It is the duty of the court to assess all expenses as best it can and though the cour.t should not enter into the region of speculation or merely try to guess the amount that must have been spent, it would' generally be possible to arrive at an amount of expenditure on a conservative basis Md where it is possibfo to arrive at any such estimate, s.uoh estimated. amount should be held as not shown by the candidate in his election account". See also _P._ _C._ _P._ _Raddiar_ v. _S._ _Peru·_ _ma!_ (2). Tho Court cannot fold its hands and surrender in helpless· ncss because the respondent refuses to cooperate and assist and holds back the relevant info.rmation in his ·possession. The Court in such a case is not powerless to arrive at the truth as best as it can. The Court can and must, as far as possible, assess tho amount of expenditure on the basis of the material on record when it finds that thera is suJ)pression of somu item of ex~nditure or the itam is deliberatelv shown as less than what must have actually been incurred. Here in the present case (I) [1971] 2 S.C.R. 118. (2) (1972] 2 S.C.R. 646, A B # ##### c D E F G H ##### · A B ###### c D E F _r_ G :ii K. L. GUPTA _v._ A· N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _I.)_ 301 the first respondent has not only suppressed the items of expenditure on nine further public meetings but also the items of expenditure on admitted twenty-three public meetings are deliberately shown at a much lesser figure than what must have actually been incurred. we must, therefore, examine whether there is sufficient material before us on the basis of which we can arrive at a reasonable estimate of the expenses incurred by the first respondent in connection with the admit!ed twenty-three public meetings and the further nine public meetmgs. Now the material before us for estimating the expenditure which must reasonably have been incurred by the first respondent in connection with his public meetings is of two kinds; one consists of documentary evidence iii the shape of Bxs. PW 15/1-A, PW 15/1-B and PW 15/1-C and the other consists of oral evidence of witnesses.,Since documentary evidence always carries greater weight and assurance than oral evidence and it is safer to rest a conclusion on documentary evidence rather than oral evidence which may sometimes be treacherously. deceptive and difficult of correct evaluation, we would first uamine the · documentary evidence and. see how f~ it helps us to determine the expenditure incurred by the first respondent. The petitioner called in evidence Permod Kumar (PW 15) and the documentary evidence in the shape of Bxs. PW 15/1-A, PW 15/1-B and PW 15/1-C was produced by this witness. This witness stated in his evidence that he carried on business of hiring out furnishings and electrical equipment and in course of his business he "hired out durries, stage, loudspeakers etc. to respondent No. 1 during the election period". He produced from his bill book carbon copies of three bills in respect of furnishings and electrical equipment hired out by him to the fust res pondent. One was bill No. 263 dated 20th February, 1971 for Rs. 368/-. the ether was bill No. 270 dated 24th February, 1971 for Rs. 414 ·50 and the third was bill No. 271 dated 24th February, 1971 for Rs. 360/-. He said. that one or two days before the date of the first bill, the first respondent had come to him accompanied by Sat Prakash Makkan and one other person whosQ name he did not remember and placed an order with him "with respect to all the three bills" and the fornishings and electric equipment mentioned in these three bills were supplied by him according to the order placed by the first respondent and the payment of the amounts of these three bills was made to him personally by the first respondeni. The copies of these three bills wc.-re marked Bxs. 15/1-A, PW 15/l·B and PW 15/1-C. The first respondent challenged the genuineness of these. three bills and the learned Trial Judge felt serious doubt about the authenticity of these three bills and declined to act upon them. We do not think the Jearnc:d Trial Judge was right in casting doubt on the genuineness of these three bills. There is absolutely no reason why these three bills should be regarded .as unworthy of credibility. Permed Kumar (PW 16) -who produced and proved these three bills is a cc mpletely indtper.dr.nt witness who has no interest in onci side or the other. It wa~ faintly .suggested 'to him in cross-examination that he was a m(:mter cf the Jan Sangh and he worked for Jail Sangh candidates in the election . but tliis suggestion was stoutly denied by hbn rmd in fact there is nothing: 302 SUPREME COUU REPORTS [1975) 2 s.c.R. to show that he was ;n any way interested in the Jan Sangh. It 'mlS then put to him that he was a partner of one Padamchand Goel who was a member of the Delhi Municipal Corporation on Jan Sangh ticket. He admitted that there was a partnership between him and Padamchand Goel entered into in 1966 but that partnership was dissolved within three or four months after Padamchand Goel became a member of the Delhi Municipal Corporation: It does not follow mer11ly because an erstwhile partner of this witness was a member of the Jan Sangh, that he too should be having interest in the Jan Sangh. It would be too much to presume that a person without any political affiliation cannot have any business relationship with a member of a p:Jlitical party, and if there is any business relationship, it must _be_ presumed that both belong to the same political party. In fact we find from the carbon copies of bills Nos. 296 and 297 in the bill book Ex. PW lli/l that-this witness supplied material on hire even to the Youth Congress which is avowedly a Congress organisation. There is absolutely no reason suggested wh)' this witness should have gone to the length of fabricating false documents for the purpose of supporting the case of the petitioner. The carbon copies of the bills Exs. PW 15/l-A, PW lt5/l-B and PW 15/1-C find place in their proper serial - 9rd0r in a bound bill-book and it is indeed difficult to appreciate how they could be subsequently introduced in the bill-book unless of course th~ suggestion be that the whole of the bill-.book was fabricated for the purpose of this case. This was, however, not the suggestion made to the witness in cross-examination. In any event we have carefully gone through the whole of the bill-book which is marked Ex. PW 16/I and w~ do not find any indication i11 it which might betray that it is a subsequently got up bill-book. Even the bill-book for the immediately preceding p~riod was produced by this witness and it is marked Ex. PW 1612. That bill-book contains carbon copies of bills commencing form No. 201 and ending with No, 260 and the bill book Ex. PW Iii/I starts from carbon copy of bill No. 261 and encls with carbon copy of bill N:J. 300. The carbon copies of the bills in both these bill-books app!:ar to be quite natural and regular and no valid reason has been suggested as to why we should regard them with suspicion. It is no doubt true that it was elicited in the cross-examination of this witness that he did not maintain any cash-book or ledger or any pther account book but that is not such an unusual circumstance as to lead us to believe that the carbon copies of the bills produced by him were not genuine. It is not at all improbable that the only record which the witness maintained was the bill-book, because by the _Y.:ry_ nature of his business, the bill-book would contain a complete record of the amount of hire received by him. The carbon copies of the bills not only show the nam":s of the parties to whom materials are given on hire but aim the dates and the particulars of the items and the hire charges in respect of the same. The witness also admitted in cross-examination that he did not maintain any receipt books but that is also not at all unusual. One does not need to have a regular receipt book. A recei}'>t can always be given on the bill submitted to the customer. Then some min:Jr discrepancies were sought to be shown in the carbon copies of one or two other bills in the bill book. One was in respect of bill No. 256. It was pointed out to the witness that bills Nos. 254 and 255 A B ##### c F G H **A** **B** ##### c **D** **E** **F** **G** **H** I:, L. **GUPTA** _**v,**_ **A.** N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _I.)_ 30~ bore date 16th February, 1971, while bill No. _266_ bore date 14tn February, 1971 and he was asked how a latter bill could bear an earlier date than the earlier bills. The witness pointed out that that was an, obvious mistake and there is no doubt that it was so. It is apparent from the carbon copies of bills No. 264, _266_ and 266 that bill No .. 256. was in continuation of bills Nos. 264 and _266,_ forming part of one single bill in the name of K. K. Bajaj, and since the later two bills bore date 15th February, 1971, the former should also have beim dated 16th February, 1971, but through some obvious error the date came to be mentioned as 14th February, 1971. No point can .be made of this obvious mistake. Then the attention of the witne£s was drawn to wme bills in the bill books PW 15/1 and PW 115/2 which were shown as cancelled, and there was some cross-examination of the witnern on _this_ point. But we fail to see how this circumstance is of any help to the first respondent. It is clear from the bill books Bxs. PW 15/1 and PW 15/2 that whenever a bill was cancelled, the original as well as the carbon copy were marked "cancelled" or crossed out. Now; there is nothing unusual in cancelling a bill if it is found that there is some mi&take made while writing it out. This happens sometimes even to the mo~t careful of men and is not a circumstance which should be regarded in any manner as suspicious. The important thing is th~.t the crjginals as well as the carbon copies of the cancelled bills are retained in the bill books. That would show the regular manner in which the bill books are maintained by the witness. There are no blank bills in the bill books PW 115/1 and PW 16/2 which could have been utilised rnb~e­ qucntly for the purpose of fabricating a bill as of an earlier date. The suggestion made in the cross-examination of course was that there were blank bills in the bill book PW 115/l !!nd these were utilised for the purpose of making out false bills in the name of the first respondent. But this suggestion: is wholly' unwarranted and is not supported 'by anything in the bill book PW 115/1 or PW 16/2. There are only three cancelled bills in the bill book PW 115/1. They are bills Nos. 253, 269' and 2915. It will be seen that none of these three bills is blank. E acli. one of them has been made out in the name of some party or the other and then it has been cancelled. The same position obtains in regard· to bills Nos. 207, 208 and 229 in bill book PW 16/2. It is apparent in the case of some of these birs t!-,at they were cancelled because or some mistake and then new bills were made out in the names of the same parties. Compare, for example, cancelled bill No. 229 with bill No. 231, cancelled bill No .. 208 with bill No. 209 and caner.lied bilf No. 263 with bill No. 264. There is no reason why any blank unuti~­ lised bills should have been allowed to remain in the bill bo'oks. That is not done by people who maintain their accounts in the regular coum: of business. Permod Kumar (PW 16) could not have anticipated on 20th February, 1971 that some blank bills might tome in handy at a. future point of time and he should, therefore, leave some blank bills in the bill books. It is also difficult to believe that there should have been a blank bill No. 263 .and again three continuous blank bills at N 1s. 269, 270 and 271. We find it impossible to accept thi~ thc0ry or' fabrication of bills _Bxs:_ PW 15/1-A, PW 15/l"B and PW 115/l-C by utilising blank bills in the bill bo() k Ex. PW 16/ 1. Moreover. there is inherent evidence· in these bills wbich indicates their genuinec 304 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 197 5] 2 5.C.R. ness. The charge for a complete stage of 12' x 10' size and _6'_ height with chadder, durries and carpets is shown in the bill Ex. PW 16/1-A as Rs. 40/- per day. That appears to be quite reasonable compared _t?_ the ridiculously low figures given in the bills of Tandon Tent & Furmture House and Agarwal Tent House. Similarly, the charge for one "loudspeaker service with five units and double mike with standby battery arrangements" is shown in the bill Ex. PW 16/1-A as Rs. 901- and for one loudspeaker service with eight units and double mike with stand-by battery arrangements is shown in the bill Ex. PW 15/1-B as Rs. 120/-, while according to the bills of Agarwal Tent House and the receipt of Saini Electric Works, it would be only about Rs. 6/-, because out of Rs. 15/- shown by them, a minimum amount of Rs. 3/to R5. 4/- would be taken up by cartage and labour charges and the hire of four flood lights at the rate of Ri:. 1 · 50 per flood light would c.ome to Rs. _61-._ It is possible to believe that in the year 1971 two microphones-even one, we may assume -with five loudspeakers and stand by battery arrangements coupled \Stith the· services of an attendant to lookafter the unit could be available for Rs. _6/-_ for a period of about four hours in the city of Delhi? It is an insult to our intelligence to be told that the charge would be something as low as Rs. 6/- or for the matter of that, even Rs. 16/-·. Then again, it may be noticed that the bills Ex:s. PW 16/1-A and PW 1.5/1-B were in respect of hire charges for the material supplied at the public meetings at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971 and Chuna Mandi cm 22nd February, 1971. Both these public meetings ware big public meetings which, according to the evidence, were attended by more than 2000 people and it is, therefore, quite reasonable to assume that a large number,of durries must have been required at each of these two public meetings as mentioned in the bills Ex:s. PW 16/1-A and PW 15/1-B. The bill Ex. PW 16/1-C showing hire charges for sets of battery operated loudspeakers for announcing on scooter for two days is also quite natural because it is in evidence that announcements of public meetings were made from scooters and battery operated loudspeakers must have been utilised for the pu~pose. It· is significant that the first respondent has not shown hiring of battery operated loudspeakers from any other party. We are, therefore, satisfied beyond doubt that the three bills Bxs. PW 16/l-A, PW 16/1-B and PW 16/1-C are genuine and they r.orrectly show the expenses incurred by the first respondent. Now the bills Exs. PW 16/1-A and PW lo/1-B serve two purposes. They not only show the actual expenses incurred by the first respondent in connection with the public meetings at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971 and Chuna Mandi on 22nd February, 1971, but also provide reliable material for making a reasonable estimate of the expenses which must have been incurred by the first respondent in connection with other public meetings. . The actual expense in connectiof! with the public: meeting at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971 was Rs. 350/accordingto Ex. PW 16/1-A.and in connection with the public meeting at Chuna Mandi on 22nd February, 1971 it was Rs. 400/- as appearing from Ex. PW 15/1-B. We may err on the side of conservatism and take the lesser of these two figures, namely, Rs. _350/·,_ as a basis for making ~ reaso~ble estin:ate of.fhe expenditure in connection ~ith other pub· J1c meetmgs. This would rttt:l!J1 .that there must havo been expenditure B ##### c D E F G B A B ##### c D F G H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N· CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ !.) 305 of about Rs. 350/- per public meeting in connection with public meetings of the type which were held at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971 and Chuna Mand; on 22nd February; 1971. These were obviously bigger meetings and for the smaller ones, the expenditure would be somewhat less and we may reasonably estimate it at Rs. 150/- per public meeting on a most conservative basis. This estimation is amply supported by the oral evidence in the case. We do not propose to refer to the evidence of all the witnesses examined on behalfofthe petitioner on this point, because a large number of them were openly and avowedly supporters of Jan Sangh and it would not be safe to rely on their uncorroborated testimony for the purpose of founding a charge of corrupt practice against the first respondent. But there are a few witnesses whose evidence inspires confidence and we shall discuss their evidence. The first witness we must refer in this connection is Chunni Lal (PW 32). He was himself a candidate at the election sponsored by Congress (0) and figured - as respondent No. 3 in the petition. We have gone through his evidence carefully and critically and he has impressed us as a _wit-_ ness of truth. It may be noted that though he was a candidate at the election, he was not interested either in the Jan Sangh or in the Congress. Being amember of Congress (0), he was opposed both to the Congress and the Jan Sangh. The evidence he gave was quite restrained and he did not indulge in any exaggerated statements. His frankness and guilelessness are evident from his admission in crossexamination that he was "fond of contesting election for parliament,. corporation or metropolitan council". His pathetic statement that all his workers abandoned him "on the eve of the day of polling" is also quite eloquent of his sincerity and truthfulness. He stated in his evidence that the/ublic meetings held by the Congress were "shandar''. There use to be stage covered _with_ durries and chandinis, loudspeakers, carpets and lights. "The stage was made attractive to attract the people". He frankly admitted that Jan Sangh meetings had also the same furnishings and electrical equipment but stated that "the Jan Sangh meetings were not so shandar" as the Congress meetings. He then deposed to a public meeting held by him in Bara Hindu Rao. He stated that this public meeting held by him was very small but even then, it cost him between Rs. 1150/- and Rs. 200/-. We are inclined to accept this evidence as it appears to us to ha\re a ring of truth. Now, there can be no doubt that if a small public meeting held by Chunni Lal (PW 32) cost him Rs.)150/- to Rs. 200/-, a much more 'shandar' public meeting held by the Congress would certainly cost anything more than Rs. 200/-. The estimate of Rs. 150/- per public meeting can, therefore, safely be regarded as a reasonable estimate. We may also refer to the evidence of Dharamvir (PW 56). This witness was also an independent witness having no interest eil her in Jan Sangh or in Congress. When questioned in regard to his asmciation witli Jan Sangh he stated emphatically and in clear terms that he was neither a worker nor a member of the Jan Sangh. It was suggested to him that his brother Jagdish was a Secretary of a Manda) of Jan Sangh to which he replied that to his knowledge, at any rate, during the 306 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.C.R. last six or seven years, his brother Jagdish had not been a Secretary of any Jan Sangh Manda!. He was also questioned about the political affiliation of his brother Jagdish and his answer was that he did not know whether his brother Jagdish was a member c.f Jan Sangh. There is nothing to show that this witness had any interest in Jan Sangh or that he belonged to the political persuasion of Jan Sangh. His evidence cannot, therefore, be assailed on -the ground that he was an interested witness. Now this witness carrfod on business of niring shamyanas, furniture and marriage accessories. He stated that he attended a public meeting of the first respondent at Bara Tcoti Cho wk on 22nd February, 1971-- the date 22nd January, 1971 given b-.,. him being an obvious mistake-and at this public meeting, he saw a stage big enough to accommodate 25 to 30 persons covered by durr;es, chandinis and 2 or 3 carpets, 200 durries for people to sit, two or three microphones, seven or eight loudspeakers and about 30 or 35 big fkcd lights. The stage, according to him, must have been me.de of 24 or 30 takhats and there were three tiers, cne above the other, in which these takhats were arranged. He then proceeded to give the rates of durries, carpets, chandnis, takhats, microphones 2.r.d flee d lights. He stated that the normal charges were Re. 1/- per t::khat of the size of 6' x 3' x li', Rs. 2/- per chandni of the size of 12' x 9' Rs. 4/- per carpet c-f the size of 6' x 9', 76 paise per durry of the size of 12' x 9', Rs. 1 · 50 to Rs. 2/- for each flood light and Rs. _60_ c-r Rs. 70 for the type of mike which he saw at thjs public meeting. He was cross-examined at length both in regard to the furnishings which he saw at this public meeting as also i11 regard to t:l.e rates deposed to by him, but his evidence could not be shaken in cross-examination. He c.f course frankly ~emit­ ted that the rates he had givc:n V1ere of a medium class goods which he kept in his shop and the r;ites of third class goods could be lower than those stated by him. But when he was shown the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House, he opined in no uncertain terms that the rates charged in that bill were low, though it was always open to a dealer to charge less if he so wanted. It may, however, be remembered in . .this connection that the evidence of Bhagmal Tandon (RIW 14) was that the rates charged by him were normal market rates. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the charges shown in the bill of Tandon Tent & Furniture House were not genuine charges but were deliberately deflated to suit the convenience of the first respondent. It may also be noted that the charge of Rs. 60-/ or Rs: 70-/ for the micro- · phones deposed to by this wit'ness was not at all challenged on behalf of the first respondent in cross-examination nor was the charge of Re. 1 · _50_ or Rs. 2-/ for each flood light. It is, therefore, apparent from the evidence of this witnc:-ss that the ex.llfnditure in connection with the public meeting at Bara Tooti Chev. k on 22nd February, 1971 could not have been less than Rs. 260/- ~nd that justifies the reasonable estimate of Rs. 1501- per public meeting. We may also refer to th(: evidence of O.P. Bharti (RIW 23) in this connection. This witness was summoned on behalf of the first respondent and ills evidence, therefore, assumes some importance. He was questioned in cross-examination in regard to what he saw at the public meeting of the first respondent at Bara Tooti Chowk which A B ##### c D E F G H A B ###### c D E F G H K. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _I.)_ 307 he attended. He stated that in this public meeting there was a stage 20' in length, 10' in width and _6'_ in height. The stage was covered by durries and chaddars. There were two microphones. There were dumes on the ground in front of the stage. There were four or five flood lights on the stage and there wes electric bulbs hung at three or four poles. Now, in order to make a stage of the size deposed to by this wicness, it would be necessary to have at least 30 takhats of the size 6' x 3' x Ii' and that would cost not less than Rs. 30/-. The cost of two microphones with loudspeakers would easily be in the neighbourhood of Rs. 80/- or Rs. 901-.- Then the flood lights and electric bulbs would also cost at least Rs. 10/- even on the basis that there were only 4 or _5_ floodlights and electric bulbs hanging at only 3 or 4 poles; which appears to us to be quite clearly an underestimate. There would als°i be expense in connection with durries and Chaddars. It is true that according to this witness; the durries in front of the stage would be at the most 20 or _25_ but we are not inclined to accept this statement because in a public meeting where there are more than 2000 people, there must be many more durries than merely 20 or _25._ In fact, Daulat Ram (PW 42) who was a Sub-Inspector from the CID Special Branch, clearly stated that "there were a considerable number of durries" in the meeting at Chowk Bara Tooti. The expense in this connection cannot be less than Rs. _26/-_ to Rs. 30/-. And added to this would be cartage and labour charges which we may put at not less than Rs. 13/-. That would easily take the aggregate expenditure . well above Rs. 160/- even on a most minimal basis. We do not, therefore, think that we would be unjustified in accepting a conservative estimate of ~s. 150/- per public meeting. We, therefore, hold that the petitioner has established that the first respondent incurred expenditure of Rs. 360/- on the public meeting at Tel Mandi on 19th February, 1971, Rs. 4001-on the public meeting at Chuna Mandi on 22nd February, 1971 and Rs. 350/- for two sets of battery operated loudspeakers for announcement on scooter. So far as the other thirty public meetings in connection with the election of the first respondent are concerned, we think that on -a ve1 y conservati'V!l estimate, the first respondent must be held to have incurred expenditure of Rs. 150/- per public meeting and that would make a total expenditure of Rs. 4,500/- in connection with these thirty public meetings. The aggregate expenditure incurred or authorised by the first respondent in connection with the total number of thirtytwo public meetings must, therefore, add up to Rs. 5,600/-. But the first respondent showed only an aggregate expenditure .of Rs. 800/- in the return of expenses filed by him and that would mean that, over and above the expenditure of Rs. 8001- sho"'n by him, he incurred or authorised further expenditure of Rs. 4,800/- on these thirty-two public meetings held in connection with his election. That takes us to a consideration of the public meeting at Idgah Road which was addressed by the Prime Minister. So far as this public meeting is concerned, the evidence on record is not sufficient to establish that the expenses in connection with it were incurred or authorised by the first respondent. There is no reliable evidence on behalf of the petitioner to show that this public meeting was held by 5-M255Sup.CJJ75 308 SUPREME COURT lmPORTS (1975] 2 S.C.It. the first respondent or that it was a public meeting held specifically in connection with the election of the first respondent. The evidence docs not even go so fp.r as to say that this public meeting was held in the Sadar Bazar Parliamentary constituency fr@m where the firft respondent was a candidate. In fa.ct, Go~ind Ram Varma (PW 19) admitted that the place where this public meeting was held was in Karol Bagh constituency. It also came out. in evidence that this public meeting was attend~d both by the first respondent and T. Sohan Lal and it could not, therefore, possibly have been a public meeting exclusively in connection with the election of the first respondent. If it had been exclusively an election meeting of the first respondent, permission for holding it would in the ordinary course have been obtained by Dr. Roshan Lal, but Dr. Roshan Lal clei1rly stated in his evidence that he never aoplied for permission to hold this public meeting. It is true that the first respondent spent a sum of Rs. 35/for petrol for a scooter which his wife and one Miss Abrol utilis~d for going round asking women voters to attend this public meeting which was going to be address0d by the Prime Minister, but that does not necessarily mean that this public meeting was arran3'd by the first respondent or the expenses in t:onnection with it were incurred 0r authorised by the first respondent. It is quite possible that even if this pub lic meeting was organised by his political party for the purpose of gam ral party.propaganda, the first respondent would make efforts to persuade persons within the area of his constituency to attend this public meeting as that would indirectly help in his election campaign. But on that account alone, without any positive evidence pcinting in that direction no responsibility for incurring or authorising expenditure in connection with this public meetin.g could be fastened on the first. respondent. The petitioner pointed out that the first respondent had been shifting his stand from time to time as to who was responsible for holding this public meeting. When Girdhari Lal Raval IPW 35) was in the witness box, a suggestion was made to him in cross-examination on behalf of the first respondent that this public meeting had been arranged by the District Congress Committee, Karol Bagh, but later on the first respondent changRd his stand and came forward with the case that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee was responsible for this public meeting. The petitioner contendfld that this equivocation and uncertainty on the part of the first respondent in regard to a matter on which he, as the then Secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Com mittee, was bound to have definite information and knowledge, cast a grave d \Ub~ on .the truthf~J!1~ss and ve~acity o_f the first respondent when he demed his respons1b1hty for this pubhc meeting. There fa consid~rable force in this criticism levelled on behalf of the petitioner. It is difficult to understand how the first respondent found himself unable to assert definitely ~hether this public meeting was arranged by the District Congress Committee, Karol Bagh or the belhi PradP.sh Congresg Committee. He waa the secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and he must surely have kn(\wn as to ~ho arranged this public meeting, whether it waa the District Congross CommittCc ltarol Bagh or the Delhi Pradosh Congress Committee. Thon why **did** the first rcspondont not come out with 4 positive cu: right. **from** the. beginning? Thia docs give riso to suspicion that **perhaJl9** **tm** _A_ B 0 D **H** when he demed his respons1b1hty for this pubhc meeting. There fa A B ###### c D E F G H K. L. GUPTA _v,_ A. N• CHAWLA _(BhagWali,_ _J.)_ 3 O 9 first respondent had something to hide from the Court. If in fact this pubhc meeting was arranged by the District Congress Committee, Karol Blgh, the first respondent could have easily called _the_ Secretary of that Committee to prove this fact. Equally, if the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee were responsible for this public meeting, the first respondent, who was the then Secretary, could have easily produced the records of the _Delhi_ Pradesh Congress Committee to show that the expenditure in connection with this public meeting was incurred by that organi· sation. In fact, the petitioner summoned C. L. Parvana, Permanent Secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, to produce the records in connection with this public meeting; but this witness stated that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee did not maintain any record of the meetings addressed by the Prime Minister. If this public meeting was arranged by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and the expenditure in connection with it was incurred by that organisation; it is difficult to believe that no record was main· tainod by it. We cannot escape the feeling that the record was being deliberately kept back from the court by C.L. Parvana who came on behalf of the Delhi Pradesh Congress. Committee. It may also be noted that though C. L. Parvana was cited as a witness on behalf of the first respondent at serial No. 28 in the supplementary list of wit· nesses filed on 4th February, 1972 and he was summoned to come "with record relating to election meetings addressed by Smt. Indira Gandhi, including the meeting addressed in ldgah, Delhi", the first respondent did not call him in evidence and bring the record of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee relating to this public meeting before the Court. The fir$t respondent, thus, failed to show that expenditure in connection with this public meeting was incurred by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee or the District Congress Com· mittee, Karol Bagh. That, howrver, cannot help _the_ petitioner because the burden is on the petitioner to establish that the expenditure in connection with this public meeting was incurred or authorised by the first respondent And of that, unfortunately for the petitioner, there is no evidence. rhe expenditure in connection with this public meeting at ldgah Road cannot, therefore, be attributed to the first respondent. We may now consider the item of expenditure representing printing charges of hand-bills and posters paid to Sood Litho Press and the cost of paper required for the purpose of printing these hand-bills and posters. The first respondent admitted that an expenditure of Rs. JOO/- was incurred by him in connection with printing of 6000 hand-bills ccntaining appeal of the Prime Minister, by Sood Litho Press and this expenditure was shown by him in his return of expenses. The controversy, however was whether this amount of Rs. 100/- paid to Sood Litho Pre~s related only to the char~es for printing the handbills or it covered also the cost of paper required for the purpose. There was a Bill of Sood Litho Pr6ss bearing No. 798 dated 27th February, 1971 in respect of this amount of Rs. 1001· and that was filed by the first respondent with the Returning Officer along with his return of expenses. This bill was produced in Court by. D. B. Bhardwaj, (PW 5) 310 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1975] 2 s.c.R. from the office of the Returning Officer i.11 obedience to a summons obtained by the petitioner. When this bill was produced, it bore an endorsement ·~complete Prtg. etc." and immeoiately below that, an other endorsement "Printing charges only", but this second endorse ment appeared scored out. Thfl first respondent did not offer any explanation in his examination-in-chief 'as to how and in what circumstances the second endorsement "Printing charges only" was scored out. In fact, he did not say anything in his examination-in-chief in regard to this bill of Sood Litho Press. It was only in cross-examinadon that he stated for the first time that the charges mentioned in this bill included the cost of apaper. He was, however, constrained to admit that it was not stated in this bi.II in so many words that the charges included the cost of paper. But he relied on the word· "etc". in the first en..dorsement "complete prtg. etc." and contended that this word suggested that the charges not only related to printing but a.Tso covered the cost of paper and it was for this re·ason that the second endorsement "Printing charges only" was scored off as inappropriate. When it was put to him in cross-examination that the second endorsement "Printing charges only" was scored off by him after he had received the bill; he denied the suggestion and st~ted that the bill came with this endorsement scored off. The case of the first respondent, therefore, was that the second endorsement "Printing charges only" was scored off at the time when the bill was issued by Sood Litho Press. But this case was put forward for the first time in the~ross-examination of the first respondent. When Taufiq Farooqi (PW2), the Manager of Sood Litho Press, was in the witness box, no suggestion was made to him that when he issued this bill; he scored out the second endorsement "Printing charges only". Taufiq Farooqi had brought the Bill Book of Sood Litho Press for the relevant period and he stated in his evidence that he found from a copy of this bill which was in the Bill Book that the bill was "in respect of 500 hand-bills-appeal of Smt. Indira Gandhi, Complete prtg. charges only at the rate of Rs. 20/· per 1000 for Rs. 100/-." This statement of Taufiq Farooqi was not challenged on behalf of the first respondent in cross-examination and it must, therefore, be accepted that the copy of this bi II in the Bill Book contained the second endorsement 'Printingcharges onJy" a.nd it was not scored off. Now i• is difficult to believe that when Taufiq Farooqi issued this bill, he should have cancelled the second endorsement "Prirting charges only" on the origin~.! of this bill, but left it unscored off in the carbon copy. In fact no such suggestion was made to Taufiq Farooqi. It was not so statea even by a single witness of the first respondent. No explanation was offered in the evidence led on behalf of the first respondent unre\elling the m}stery surrounding the scoring off of the second endorsement "Printing charges only". On this state of the evidence, the conclusion is irresistable that when this bill was issued by Sood Litho Press; it bore the second endorsement "Printing charges only" as did the carbon copy produced by Taufiq Farooqi and this second endorsement was scored off at some subsequent stage. T11is conclusion is strengthened and fortified by the fact-that th1: link of the line scoring the second endorsement "Printing charges only" is _c:_ f a different shade than the ink of the words in the second endorsement.. Then again, there is a A B ##### c D I F G H A 8 ##### c D E F G H K. L, GUPTA _v._ A· N. CHAWi:,A _(Bhagwati,_ /,) 311 very impijrtant circumstance which shows beyond doubt that the second endorsement "Printing charges only" was scored off at some subsequent stage after the issue of the bill. This circumstance constitutes a rather disturbing and disquieting feature of the case. The original bill was admittedly filed by the first respondent with the Returning Offi· cer along 'With his return of expenses. Before it was produced by D.B. Bhardwaj (PW S), the petitioner applied _inter_ _alia_ for a certified copy ofthisliill and he got a certified copy of 16th June, 1971 which showed the second endorsement "Printing charges only" intact without any scoring. The inference is, therefore, inevitable th9t on 16th June 1971 when a certified copy was issued by the office of the Returning Officer. the original bill contained the second endorsement "Printing charges only" and this second endorsement was not scored off. But when the first respondent obtained a certified copy on 3rd August, 1971, this certified copy did not contain the second endorsement at all, which would mean that in the original bill it was scored off. There can, therefore, be no doubt that tht; second endorsement "Printing charges only" in· the original bill was scored off sometime between 16th June, 1971 and 3rd August, 1971 when the original bill was in the office of the Returning Officer. We are not concerned to inquire as to who was responsible for this un-authorised scoring off of the second endorsement. That .would be a matter for the Returning Officer or other appropriate election authorities to investigate and determine. But we cannot help mentioning that the scoring off of the second enaorsement was certainly advantageous to the first respondent. The first respondent contended that the second endorsement limiting the amount of the bill to printing charges only was inappropriate, since the word 'etc'. in the first· endorsement suggested that the amount of the bi)l covered not only printing charges but also the cost of paper. but this contention is also futile. It is difficult to see how the first endorsement "complete printing etc." can p\)ssibly be construed as including the cost of paper. It was precisely in order to staye off such an argument as this that the second endorsemJJnt "Printing charges only" was made in the bill when it was issued by Sood Litho Press. It may be noted-: and this is a very important circumstance-that when Taufiq Farooq1 was in the witness box, no question was put to him on behalf of the first respondent requiring him to explain what he meant by the v.ord 'etc' and suggesting that this word was intended to include the cost of paper. There is also another circumstance which strongly militates against the contention ofthe'firstrespondent. If the cost of paper were included in the bill, it would have been shown as a separate item and sales tax would have been charged on it as in the case of the bill of Kapur Printing Press RI 8 and the estimate given by Premchand Grover R6. The absence of sales tax in the bill is a clear indication that the cost of paper was not included in the amount of the bill. We are, therefore, of the view that _the_ amount of Rs. JOO/- shown in the bill represented only printing charges and did not include the cost of paper. The cost of paper utilised in printing 5000 hand-bills containing the ap p~al of the Prime Minister would, therefore, have to be added to the . election expenses of the first respondent. SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1975} 2 S.C.R· 312 Now this item of cost of paper wassuppremd by the first. mpon-. dent and we would, therefore, have to make a reasonable estimate 01 the expenditure incurred on it on the basis of the material on record. There is, fortunately for the petitioner, evidence on thjs point which enables us to make a reasonable estimate of the cdst of paper which· must have been utilised in printing these 5000 hand-bills. Babu Ram Sharma (PWll)statcd in his evidence that Sarvc.deshik P.ress, of which he was an employee, printed 8000 hand-bills containing the appeal of the Prime Minister for the first respondent and these har.d-bills were like the document marked All 3 which, as deposed to by Taufiq Farooqi, 1Yas similar to the hand-bills printed by Sood Lithe Press. According to Babu Ram Sharma, four reams were utilised by Sarvadcshik Press for printing 8000 hand-bills like A/13 and the cost cf paper utilistd for this purpose was Rs. 30/- per ream. Now, if four reams v.ere utilised for printing 8000 pamphlets; it must follow _a fortiorari_ that 1hc printing of 5000 pamphlets must have required at lcnst !Wl' and a half reams and, according to the price given by B2.bu Ram Sharma, the cost of these two and a half reams of paper would be Rs. 75;-. It is true that Babu Ram Sharma was a witness who was summoned primarily to depose to the printing of various pamphlets and !1and bills by Sarvi:deshik Press for the first respondent and his evidence on that point was seriously challenged on behalf of the first respondent, but so far as the quantity of paper required for the purpose of printing hand bills like A/13 and the price of such paper were concerned, his evidence was not at all ch~llengcd in cross·e~::imination. We can, therefore, safely estimate the cost of paper utilis<:d in printing 5000 hand-bills by Sood Li tho Press at Rs. 75/-, being the price of two and a half reams of parer at the rate of Rs. 30/- per roam. We must now rofor to the second bill of Sood Litho Press which was disputed by the first respondent. Taufiq Farooqi pr<'duced in his examination-in-chief a copy of bill No. 785 datec{ 18th February. 1971 in tho name of "Shri Amar Nath Chawla through Shri J.P. Goel" for Rs.54/· in respect of printing charges of posters, hand bill and kitabat. The copy of this bill, which was marked Ex. PW 2/1, carried at the foot of it an endorsement, namely. "Printing charges only" and accrrding to the evidence given by Taufiq Farooqi, it bore his initials. Taufiq Farooqi admitted that the printing work covered by this bill w~cs und~rtaktn by Sood Litho Press on behalf of the first respondent, but, in an attempt to support the first respondent, he started by saying. a!. most at the commencement of his examination-in-chief, that he did not know the first respondent, though there was no provocation to him to do so. We are not prepared to accept his statement thr.t he did not know tho first respondent. It is apparent from his evidence that he was out to favour tho first respondent. The petitioner in f:tct apprehended this situation and he. therefore, obtained. from thi~ witnnss an affidavit dated 17th Augnst, 1971 and in this affidavit the witness stated on oath that "tho original~ of Anncxuros 'A' and 'B' mcnti0nad in the election petition and attached to the same were printed thrrup,h us ~'ith our print lino Shri Amar Nath Chawla accrmpaniod by A B ##### c D E F G H Shr1 J.P. Goel had given mo the orders for printing the said anncxures and th.e manuscript/subject-matter was handed over to me by the said J::, L. Gl1PTA _v._ A· N. CHAWLA _(Bhotwati,_ _l.)_ 313 A Amar Nath Chawla". When confronted with this affidavit he had to admit th~t it bore _his signa:ures on both pages but came o~t with an expla.~at1on that his affidavit had been brought to him by some Aryasam.11J1 bors hoade~ by Mahindor Kumar Shastri and they forced him to s1~n this affidavit and he accordingly sigred it and gava it to . M~h1nder Kumar Shastri. This explanatfon i5, to say tho least, puerile. B ##### c D / . E F G H It 1s difficult to beliew that this witnrn should have been forcod to sign this affidavit by some Arya Samaji boys headed by Mahinder Kumar Shastri. He doe> not say what was tho force used by these persons and why he could not rc>ist the use of this force and succumbed to it. He was, according to his stati:mont in evidcnee, forced to . put his signature on this . affidavit in his press. But if that were true, he would hava surely shouted for help because the shop of Sood Litho Press is situate on the main road. and there are quite a few other shops adjoining to it. Moreover, he would have immediately complained to his employer Krishan Avtar Agarwal. the proprietor of Sood Litho Press, and also lodged a complaint with the police, or at any rate addressed a notice to Mahinder Kumar Shastri, but admittedly he "did not take any action or make any report to my . propric:tor or anybody else that I have: been forced to aign this affidavit". This is most unMtural and clearly exposes the hollowness of the explanation given by the witness. We havo no doubt that this affidavit was made by the witness voluntarily and he knew the first respondont as well as the fifth respondent but deliberately feign?,d ignoral'ce in order to support the case of the first respondent. It is, thercfo;e, clear from the evidence of this witness that Sood Litho Presscarriedoutprintingworkfor the firs1,espondent as shown in tho Bill Bx. PW 2/1. There is no reason to doubt his tcstim'.lny on this point. If at all he could, he would have tried to help the first respondent, but obviously, thero being documentary evidenco in the shape of Ex. PW 2/1, in his Bill Book, he was helpless and ho had to depose to it. The learned Trial Judge refused to rely on the copy of bill Ex. PW 2/1 on the ground that Taufiq Farooqi, who produced it, was an unreliable witMss. But he was clearly in error in adopting this approach because, in the first place, the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1 waa documentary evidence which did not depend for ita vaiidity and authentidty on the oral evidence of Taufiq Farooqi, and secondly, Taufiq Farooqi turned against tho petitioniir and tried to help the first rcspondont, and thereforo, lllly evidence given by him against the first respondent could. not be regarded with suspicion, but was, on the contrary, moro crnd1ble. It may be n<:>ted-and this is almost a conclusive circum5tance-th:it thorn was no cross-examination of Taufiq Farooqi in regard to tho copy of the Bill Ex. PW 2/1. His evidence on this point was not at all challenged in cross-examination on behalf of the first respondent. It was not even suggested to him that the first resp?ndont did not get pdntin, work done by Sood Litho Press as shown m the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1 or that the copy of tho bill Ex. PW 2/1 was false and fabricated. The only question put to Taufiq Farooqi was whether any declaration was taken by him from any one in connection with the printing of the band-bills and posters forming the subject-matter of the ;.opy of the bill Bx. PW 2/1 and his answer was in the negative. But that 1s far from a SUPREME COURT R.EPORTS [1975] 2 S.C.R; 31" challenge to the printing wMk shown in the copy of the bill Ex PW 2/1. Merely because no declaration was taken by Sood Litho Press from any one in connection with this printing work, it does not necessarily follow that no printing work was done by them. It is not unrommon to find that during elections rosteFs and hand bills are printed without complying with the requirement of section !27A. The reason _is,_ as pointed out by this Court in _Rc.him_ _Khan_ v. _Khurshid_ _Ahmed_ & _Ors._ (1), that "there is no agency of the law which takes prompt action after due investigation, with the result that no printer or. candidate or other propagandist during elections bothers about the Jaw and he is able successfully to spread scandal without a trace of the source, knowing that nothing will happen until long after the election, when in a burden-some litigation this question is raised". We may emphasise once agair that there should bo some independent semi-judicial instrumentality set up by law, which would immediately investigate, even while the election fever is on and propaganda and canvassing are in progress and the evidence is raw and fresh how the offending hand bills and posters have come into existenc.e, who has printed them and who is responsible for getting them printed for "violations thrive where prompt check is unavailable". As the evidence, goes, there being no challenge to the authenticity of the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1 and to the testimony of Taufiq Farooqi on this point, we must accept the case of the peti tioner that the first respondent got printing work done as shown in the copy of the bill Ex PW 2/ 1 and incurred an expenditure of Rs. 54/· for that purpose. But as the endorsement on the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/l shows, this expenditur1:1 of Rs. _54/-_ was cnly in connection with the printing charges. The cost of the paper utilised for the purpose of printing would also have to be added in determining the expenditure incurred or authorised by the first respondent. Now it is evident from the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1 that the total number of posters printed was 3700. Taufiq Farooqi did not state in his evidence as to what were these posters printed by his firm and denied that they were the same as the poster Annexure 'B' to the petition. But the poster Annex.urn 'B' to the petition clearly bears the print-line of Sood Litho Press and since the first fl.Spondcnt refused to disclose to the Court what were the posters which were got printed by him from Sood Litho Press, we would not be unjustified in holding that thf posters which were printed by Sood Litho Press for the first respondent were the r-ame as Annexure 'B' to the petition. Bab!I Ram Sharma (PW 11) sta.ted in his evidence that for printing posters of the size of Annexure B' to the petition, two reams of paper 1000 would be required and the price of paper utilised in the poster Annexure 'B' to the petition was Rs. 50/- per ream at the relevant time. To the same effect was also the evidence of Chater Sain (PW 55). There was no cross-examination of either of these two witnesses on this point as regards quantity and price of paper. We must, therefore, (I} C. A. No. 816 of 1973-dcc. on August 8, 1974. B ##### c D E F G H 8 c D E F G H JC. L. GUPTA _v._ A. N. CHAWLA _(Bhagwati,_ _J.)_ 3 lS accept this evidence and on the basis of this evidence, we can safely conclude that the total cost of paper utilised in printing 3700 posters was Rs. 375/·. The hand bills shown to have been printed in the copy of tho bill Ex. PW 2/1 were 2000 and again, for the same reasons, wo do not think we would be wrong in taking the view that they were the same as the hand bill Annexure 'A' to the petition, because Annexurc 'A' to the petition bears the print-line of Sood Litho Press and the first respondent suppressed from the Court information as to what were the hand bills printed by Sood Li tho Press for him. Babu Ram Sharma (PW 11) stated that half ream would be required for rrinting 1000 hand bills of the size of Anne.xure 'A' to the petition and the price of paper used for Annexure 'A' was Rs. 30/· pe~ ream at the relevant time and this statement was supported by the evidence of Chater Sain (PW 22). The cost of paper utilised in printing 2000 hand bills would, therefore, be Rs. 30/-. Thus, the aggregate cost of paper utilised in printing poster and hand bills as shown ill the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1 would come to Rs.-405/- but we may take it at Rs. 300/- on a very conservative basis. We must, therefore, add to the expenditure incurred [1 ] by the first respondent, Rs. 75/· being the cost of paper utilised in printing 5000 hand bills shown in the admitted bill of Sood Litho Press, Rs. _54/·_ being tho amount of tho bill of Sood Litho Press of which the copy is exhibited as PW 2/1 and Rs. 300/· being the cost of paper utilised for printing 3700 posters and 2000 hand bills shown in the copy of the bill Ex. PW 2/1. It would thus be seen that the total expenditure proved to have been incurred' or authorised by the first respondent, in addition to that shown by him in his return of expenses, ac!ds up to Rs. 4,800/-+ Rs. 75+Rs. 54+Rs. 300/·, making in the aggregate Rs. 5,229. Now admittedly the expenditure shown by the first respondent in his return of expenses was Rs. 5,415 ·62. If the further expenditure of Rs. 5229/· is added to this admitted expenditure of Rs. 5,415 ·62, the total expendi· ture proved to have been incurred or authorised by the first respondent comes to Rs. 10,644 ·62, and that would be clearly in excess of Rs. 10,000/- which is the prescribed limit. That would be sufficient to invalidate the election of the first respondent on the ground of corrupt practice defined in s.ection 123(6) of the Act. On. this view it is unnecessary for us to consider the other items of eXP.enditure alleged to have been incurred or authorised by the first respondent and we do not, therefore, propose ·to discuss them, parti· cularly as they are of a debatable character. We also do not think it necessary to discuss issues 8 and 9 relating to publication of Annexures 'A' and 'B' to the petition and oral repetitions of the allegations .con· tained in Anncxure 'A' and 'B' to the petition at various public meetings set out in the particulars supplied by the petitioner. There can be no doubt that the allegations contained in Annexure 'A' and 'B' to the oetition related to the personal character of the petitioner and they were reasonably calculated to prejudice the prospects of his election, but it is a highly controversial question whether they were published by the 316 **SU'l'l.EMB** **COu1T** **llBPO:lTS** **(1975) 2** t.C.I.. first respondent or his election agent by bringing out Annexure •A' and **A** 'B' to the petition or orally at the public meetings and we do not propose to express any opinion on it. It may be noted that the learned Trial Judge found, on a comideration of the evidence, that the allega· tions contai!1ed in Annexure 'A' and 'B' to the petition were true but this finding was seriously. attacked on behalf of the petitioner and it was contended that there was no evidenre at all on the basis of which the learned Trial Judge could arrive at such a finding. There is _prima_ B _facie_ considerable force in this contention of the petitioner, because the finding of the learned Trial Judge that these allegations were true appears to be based primarily on the repOTts of the proceedings-. in the Parliament which are no proof of the contents of the allegations made in the course of such proceedings and it does seem to be a little difficult to sustain it. However, as pointed out above, it is not necessary to examine the correctness of this finding and to pronounce upon it. C Since we are of the view that the first respondent is guilty of the corrupt practice set out in section 123(6) of the Act, we allow the appeal and set asicb the election of tho first respondent. Tho first respondent w,ill pay to the petitioner costs throughout. V.P.S. _Appeal_ _olfowetl._