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TMI Blog1967 (1) TMI 79X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t, 1951 (Act 43 of 1951), hereinafter called the 'Act' calling in question the election of the appellant on the ground that various corrupt practices had been committed at the election and claiming a two-fold relief namely, that the election of the appellant should be declared to be void and that respondent No. 2 himself should be declared to have been duly elected. After the appellant had filed a written statement, the Election Tribunal, Hyderabad framed twenty-two issues, but the trial of the election petition could not be proceeded with as the appellant filed several interlocutory applications raising various objections and after they were overruled by the Election Tribunal, the appellant filed several writ petitions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. During the pendency of the election petition the appellant was appointed by the President of India as Minister for Labour Employment in the Central Cabinet. Subsequent to that appointment the appellant was elected as a Member of the Rajya Sabha on March 26, 1964. Thereupon the appellant resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1964 and intimated the same to the Speaker of the Assembly. On September 2, 1965 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isputes arising out of or in connection with elections to Parliament and to the Legislatures of States shall be vested in a Commission (referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission). Section 150(i) of the Act states as follows : 150. (1) When the seat of a member elected to the Legislative Assembly of a State becomes vacant or is declared vacant or his election to the Legislative Assembly is declared void, the Election Commission shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), by a notification in the official Gazette, call upon the Assembly constituency concerned to elect a person for the purpose of filling the vacancy so caused before such date as may be specified in the notification, and the provisions of this Act and of the rules and orders made thereunder shall apply, as far as may be, in relation to the election of a member to fill such vacancy. Sections 84 of the Act provides A petitioner may, in addition to claiming a declaration that the election of all or any of the returned candidates, is void, claim a further declaration that he himself or any other candidate has been duly elected. Section 98 reads as follows: At the conclusi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ventually gets a declaration that the election of the member is void and that he himself had been duly elected there will be two candidates representing the same constituency at the same time, one of them declared to be duly elected at the General Election and the other declared to have been elected at the bye-election and an impossible situation would arise. It cannot be supposed that Parliament contemplated such a situation while enacting s. 150 of the Act. Parliament could not have intended that the provisions of Part VI of the Act pertaining to election petitions should stand abrogated as soon as a member resigns his seat in the Legislature. It is a well-settled rule of construction that the provisions of a statute should be so read as to harmonise with one another and the provisions of one section cannot be used to defeat those Of another unless it is impossible to effect reconciliation between them. The principle stated in Crawford's Statutory Construction at page 260 is as follows : Hence the court should, when it seeks the legislative intent, construe all of the constituents parts of the statute together, and seek to ascertain the legislative intention from the who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aking action under that section till the result of the election petition filed by respondent No. 2 is known. This view is also supported by the circumstance that no time limit is fixed in the section for the Election Commission to call upon the Assembly constituency concerned to elect a person for filling the vacancy. Nor does the section say that the Election Commission shall hold a bye-election forthwith or immediately . It is also conceivable that there may be a situation in which the Election Commission may not hold a bye-election at all or may hold the bye-election after a delay of 2 or 3 months. Take for instance, a case where a member resigns his seat in the Legislative Assembly of a State 3 months before a General Election is due to be held. It cannot be suggested that the Election Commission is bound under s. 150(1) of the Act to hold a bye-election forthwith in that vacancy. Take also another instance where a member of an Assembly of Himachal Pradesh resigns his seat during winter. It cannot be argued that the Election Commission is bound to issue a notification for a bye-election forthwith though the climatic conditions are unsuitable for holding such a bye-election. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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