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TMI Blog2000 (10) TMI 930X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt was declared elected on 28.11.1998. The respondent filed an Election Petition under Section 81(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951 challenging the election of the appellant. That Petition was filed on 12.1.1999. The appellant filed an application under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC read with Section 81 of the R.P. Act 1951, praying that the Election Petition was liable to be dismissed at the threshold as not maintainable as the same had not been filed within 45 days from the date of election of the returned candidate. The respondent contended that in view of Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, the Election Petition was filed in time. The plea of the respondent Election Petitioner was accepted by the learned Single Judge and that decision is assailed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Explanation. In this sub-section, "elector" means a person who was entitled to vote at the election to which the election petition relates, whether he has voted at such election or not. (3) Every election petition shall be accompanied by as many copies thereof as there are respondents mentioned in the petition and every such copy shall be attested by the petitioner under his own signature to be a true copy of the petition. (Emphasis added) The "date of election" of the returned candidate has been defined under Section 67(A) of the R.P. Act, 1951, which is as under:- "Date of election of candidate For the purposes of this Act, the date on which a candidate is declared by the returning officer under the provisions of section 53, or secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ince the General Clauses Act would not normally be applicable to Rules framed under the Central Act. By Act No. 27 of 1956, a prescribed period for presentation of petition was provided under Section 81(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951 instead of giving such legislative power to the rule making authority. R.P. Act, 1951 being a self-contained code, it was held by courts in a series of decisions that the provisions contained in the Limitation Act have no application. However, in a line of decisions it has also been held that the provisions contained in General Clauses Act, 1897 are applicable in computing the period of limitation for filing election petition under the R.P. Act., 1951. There is nothing in Section 81(1) to indicate that the provisions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to a petition filed under Section 81(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951, it could be applied only in appropriate cases and is not to be applied universally. The contention of the appellant is that in view of the specific language employed in Section 81(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951, the words "within" and "from" used therein would indicate that Section 9 has no application. It was also urged that the legislative mandate is that the election petition should be filed within 45 days from the date of election of the returned candidate and not earlier than the said date or after 45 days of the said date. On these premises, it was argued that section 9 has no application in the instant case. Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 gives statutory recognitio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or any period of time, to use the word "to". The principle is that when a period is delimited by statute or rule, which has both a beginning and an end and the word "from" is used indicating the beginning, the opening day is to be excluded and if the last day is to be excluded the word "to" is to be used. In order to exclude the first day of the period, the crucial thing to be noted is whether the period of limitation is delimited by a series of days or by any fixed period. This is intended to obviate the difficulties or inconvenience that may be caused to some parties. For instance, if a policy of insurance has to be good for one day from the 1st January, it might be valid only for a few hours after its execution and the party or the benef ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tatute. It was also contended that the filing of the application on the date of election of the returned candidate cannot be considered as a valid presentation of petition as envisaged in the section. We do not think that any such interpretation is possible by a conjoint reading of Section 81(1) of the R.P. Act, 1951 and Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. The first day for the period of limitation is required to be excluded for the convenience of the parties and if the declaration of the result is delayed or is done late in the night, the candidate or elector would hardly get any time for presentation of the election petition. Law comes to the rescue of such parties to give full forty-five days period for filing the election petiti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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