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A. Manju v. Prajwal Revanna @ Prajwal R & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 881Decided 13 Dec 2021
Civil Appeal No. 1774 of 2020
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice M.M. Sundresh

Background

After losing the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Hassan constituency in Karnataka, the appellant filed an election petition alleging the winning candidate had filed a false affidavit and committed other irregularities. The winning candidate asked the High Court to throw out the petition at the very outset, arguing it failed to comply with mandatory requirements: specifically that it was not accompanied by a special affidavit in the prescribed "Form 25" required for allegations of corrupt practice under election law. The High Court's Single Judge agreed and dismissed the election petition entirely without a trial, relying on a three-judge Supreme Court precedent holding that total non-compliance with Form 25 could not be cured.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court misapplied precedent, because the appellant had in fact filed a verifying affidavit along with the petition: it simply was not in the specific Form 25 format. The Court clarified that this was merely a curable defect, not a case of total absence of any affidavit, and the appellant should have been given an opportunity to file the correct Form 25 affidavit rather than having the entire petition dismissed. The Court emphasized that election law, while technical, should not be applied in a hyper-technical manner that shuts out a genuine challenge to an election at the threshold stage. The appeal was allowed, the dismissal was set aside, and the appellant was given 15 days to file the proper Form 25 affidavit so the election petition could proceed to be heard on its merits.

Lesson Learnt

A procedural defect in an election petition, such as filing the wrong form of supporting affidavit rather than no affidavit at all, is usually curable and should not result in the petition being thrown out without a chance to fix the mistake.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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