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Thangjam Arunkumar vs Yumkham Erabot Singh

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 762Decided 23 Aug 2023
Civil Appeal Nos. 4179-4180 of 2023
Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · Narasimha

Background

The appellant, elected to the Manipur Legislative Assembly from the Wangkhei constituency, faced an election petition from the losing candidate alleging he had committed "corrupt practice" by not disclosing material particulars of a financial transaction relating to a loan used in his campaign financing. The appellant sought to have the petition thrown out at the threshold, arguing among other things that the petitioner had failed to file a separate affidavit in the prescribed Form-25 specifically supporting the corrupt-practice allegation, as required by the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Manipur High Court rejected this threshold challenge, and the appellant approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court traced a long line of its own precedents, including a Constitution Bench ruling in T.M. Jacob v. C. Poulose and a three-judge bench ruling in G.M. Siddeshwar v. Prasanna Kumar, establishing that failing to file a separate, precisely-formatted Form-25 affidavit is a curable defect, not a fatal one, so long as the election petition is otherwise verified and supported by some sworn affidavit testifying to the corrupt-practice allegations. Since the election petitioner here had filed a verification and a supporting affidavit swearing to the truth of the corrupt-practice paragraphs (even though not in the exact prescribed form), the Court held there was substantial compliance with the law. The appeal was accordingly dismissed, and the election petition will proceed to trial on its merits.

Lesson Learnt

Not every procedural shortfall in an election petition results in automatic dismissal: Indian election law distinguishes between defects that are fatal (like failing to properly serve or verify the petition) and those that are merely curable (like an imperfectly formatted supporting affidavit), and courts favour deciding serious allegations like corrupt practice on their merits rather than on technicalities.

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

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