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TMI Blog1964 (4) TMI 145X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unal and the High Court is based on a misconstruction of the impugned pamphlet. 2. The appellant was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Dharamkot Constituency and he defeated his nearest rival, the respondent, by a margin of nearly 8,000 votes. The appellant had stood for election on the Akali Dal ticket, while the respondent had been officially adopted by the Congress Party. After the election of the appellant was declared, the respondent filed an election petition alleging that the appellant's election was void inasmuch as for the purpose of securing votes, he had appealed to his religion and had thereby committed a corrupt practice. It appears that the election petition had also alleged that the appellant had appealed to his language and community, but with that part of the case we are no longer concerned in the present appeal, because the petition has not succeeded in that behalf. According to the respondent, the appellant had addressed seven election meetings held in different places and on different dates and at those meetings, he and his supporters had made speeches asking the voters to vote for the appellant as he was the proper representative of the Si ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed an appeal to the voters on the ground of the appellant's religion. In regard to poster Ext. p. 10, however, the High Court agreed with the conclusion of the Tribunal and held that the said poster contained an appeal to the voters to vote for the appellant on the ground of his religion, and so, by publishing and distributing it at his election meetings, the appellant had committed a corrupt practice under s. 123(3) of the Act. That is how on this narrow ground, the decision of the Tribunal was confirmed by the High Court and that raises the question about the construction of the impugned poster Ext. p. 10 5. Before dealing with this question, it is necessary to refer to the provisions of s. 123(3). Section 123 provides for different acts which constitute corrupt practices under the Act. Section 123(3) lays down, inter alia, that the appeal by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent to vote or refrain from voting for any person on the ground of his religion, would amount to a corrupt practice. It is thus, plain that if it is shown that the impugned poster which the appellant is proved to have published and distribut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es in this country which subscribe to different political and economic ideologies, but the membership of them is either confined to, predominantly held by, members of particular communities or religions. So long as law does not prohibit the formation of such parties and in fact recognises them for the purpose of election and parliamentary life, it would be necessary to remember that an appeal made by candidates of such parties for votes may, if successful, lead to their election and in an indirect way, may conceivably be influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community or language. This infirmity cannot perhaps be avoided so long as parties are allowed to function and are recognised, though their composition may be predominantly based on membership of particular communities or religion. That is why we think, in considering the question as to whether a particular appeal made by candidate falls within the mischief of s. 123(3), courts should not be astute to read into the words used in the appeal anything more than can be attributed to them on its fair and reasonable construction. 9. That takes us to the question of construing the impugned poster. The principles which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es the voters to vote for the appellant in order to preserve the honour and prestige of the Panth and it was urged that in the context, the Panth meant the Sikh religion. Since the pamphlet clearly appeals to the voters to vote for the appellant and proceeds on the assumption that the election of the appellant would uphold the honour and prestige of the Sikh religion, that amounts to a corrupt practice, because the appeal is based on the ground of the appellant's religion. The courts below have accepted this contention. 12. The word 'Panth' is one of Sanskrit origin and etymologically it means the path or the way. It must be conceded that by itself it has come to indicate the Sikh religion, because it has been used by Sikhs to denote their religion and their denomination as the followers of that Panth. In that context, Panth may mean the Sikh religion and the followers of the Panth would be the persons who follow the path prescribed by the Sikh-gurus and as such, would signify the Sikh community. Panthic is an adjective which means, of the Panth or belonging to the Panth, and so, prima facie, the glory or prestige of the Panth may mean the glory or prestige of the Sikh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ining such honour, meaning the honour of the Panth which is the Akali Dal, we will reach our final goal, that is, the Punjabi Suba. It is not disputed that at these elections, the Akali Dal Party propagated for the creation of the Punjabi Suba and the crux of the appeal made by the impugned poster is that if the voters returned the Akali Dal candidate, the honour and prestige of the Akali Dal would be maintained and the ideal of the Punjabi Suba attained. In the end, the poster also says that those who issued it were anxious to keep the honour and prestige of the Panth ever high. 14. We have carefully considered the view taken by the Punjab High Court and the Tribunal, but we are satisfied that the said view is inconsistent with a fair and reasonable construction of the impugned poster. In fact, the High Court does not appear to have considered the different places in the poster where the word Panth has been used and no attempt has been made to co-relate these sentences and to enquire whether the meaning attributed by the High Court to the word Panth is justified in regard to all the sentences in which that word occurs. It is an elementary rule of construction that the same word ca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ovince which it calls the Punjabi Suba. In construing the impugned poster, the High Court does not appear to have taken into account this oral evidence. It is true that oral evidence would not be of any material assistance in construing the words in pamphlet; but as we have just indicated, the word Panth used in six places in the pamphlet can be properly interpreted only to mean the Akali Dal Party and it is in that context that the statements made by the witnesses as to the name by which the Akali Dal Party is known in popular minds, may have some relevance. 16. It appears that a similar question has been considered by the Election Tribunals on two occasions in the past. In Sardul Singh Caveeshar v. Hukam Singh and Ors. (1953) VI E.L.R. 316 the Election Tribunal had to consider the denotation of the words Panth and Panthic candidate and it has observed that though the words Panthic candidate would literally signify a candidate of the Sikh Community, after the Akali Dal Party came to be known as the Panthic Party in the popular minds, the word Panthic candidate came to signify a candidate of the Akali Dal Party. It appears from this judgment that the Akali Dal Party called itself t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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