Holding

The petitioner lacked locus standi as he was not a duly nominated candidate, and therefore the election petition and the special leave petition were dismissed.

Summary

Charan Lal Sahu, an advocate, filed an election petition and a special leave petition challenging the election of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as President of India, alleging that his own nomination was wrongly rejected and that certain provisions of the Presidential and Vice‑Presidential Elections Act, 1952 were unconstitutional. The Court examined whether Sahu was a duly nominated candidate under Sections 58 and 5C of the Act and found that his nomination was invalid for lacking the required number of proposers, seconders and a certified copy of his electoral roll entry. Consequently, he had no locus standi to file the election petition. The Court also reiterated that the challenged provisions of the Act, as amended, are intra‑vires and have been upheld in earlier judgments. Both the election petition and the special leave petition were dismissed with costs imposed on the petitioner. The judgment emphasized that repeated frivolous election petitions will not be entertained.

Issues considered

Whether the petitioner had locus standi as a duly nominated candidate to maintain an election petition under the Presidential and Vice‑Presidential Elections Act, 1952.
Whether the challenge to the constitutional validity of Sections 58 and 5C (and related provisions) of the Act was maintainable.
Whether the election petition and the special leave petition were maintainable.

Legislation cited

Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952s. 14, s. 18, s. 5, s. 58, s. 5B, s. 5C, s. 8
Representation of Peoples Act, 1951s. 29A

Subjects

Election petitionPresidential electionLocus standiNomination validityConstitutional validitySupreme CourtCostsFrivolous petition

Judgment

14 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A The questions for consideration before this Court was whether the •
Petitioner has locus standi to file the Election Petition; whether he was
duly nominated candidate in accordance with the provisions of Sections
S8 and SC of the Act; whether challenge to the validity of Sections S8
and SC of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Act or any other
provisions of the Act and Rules was valid; and whether the Special Leave
B Petition and election petition are maintainable. [23-8, q

Dismissing the petitions, the Court

HELD: I. The petitioner cannot be regarded as a person who had
been nominated or can claim to have been duly nominated as candidate
c at the election in question. His nomination papers. were thus rightly
rejected by the returning officer and the petition on his behalf is, therefore,
not maintainable.

Charan Lal Sahu v. K.R. Narayanan and Ors., [1998) I SCC S6; Charan
Lal Sahu v. Giani Zail Singh, (1984) I SCC 390 and Charan Lal Sahu v.
D
Nee/am Sanjeeva Reddy and Ors., (1978) 2 SCC SOO, relied on.

2. Question regarding the constitutional validity of Sections S8 and
SC of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 19S2, since has .'
already been upheld by this Court there is no need to examine these points
E any further in view of the consistent view of this Court. The procedure
prescribed under the Act and the Rules for holding the election of the
President and Vice-President is valid and not ultra vires the Constitution
of India. (23-C; 24-G, H; 2S-A)

Charan Lal Sahu v. Fakruddin Ali Ahmed and Ors., AIR (197S) SC
F 1288; Charan Lal Sahu v. Nee/am Sanjeeva Reddy and Ors., (1978) 2 SCC
SOO; Charan Lal Sahu v. K.R. Narayanan and Ors., (1998) 1 SCC S6 ;
Mithilesh Kumar Sinha v. Returning Officer for Presidential Election, [1993)
Supp. 4 SCC 386, relied on.

3. Objections to the validity of the nomination paper filed by
G respondent No. 1 are so frivolous that they do not require attention of this
Court. Returning Officer rightly overruled the objections filed by the
petitioner questioning the validity of the nomination paper filed by
respondent No. 1 [2S-8)
{

4. There is no merit either in the election petition or.in the special
H
CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM [ASHOK BHAN,J.) lS

leave petition against the judgment of the High Court. Costs assessed at A
Rs. 25,000 imposed in each case. The costs so deposited shall be transferred
to the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee. No petition filed by the
petitioner-in-person shall be entertained in this Court till the amount of
costs imposed is deposited. (26-B)

Charan Lal Sahu v. K.R. Narayanan and Ors., (1998[ I SCC 56, B
referred to.

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Election Petition No. I of 2002.

(Under Article 71(1) and 131(1) of,the Constitution of India.)
c
WITH
SLP(C) No. 22385/2002.

In-person for the Petitioner

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by D

BHAN. J. It is regrettable that in spite of being cautioned four times
by this Court not to challenge election of the President of India in a cavalier
and light hearted manner, the petitioner, who is an advocate has filed the
present election petition challenging the election of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam E
respondent No. I as President of India on the same/similar grounds of challenge
which stand concluded against him in petitioner's own cases by seve"ral
decisions of this Court. Our regret is compounded by the fact that petitioner
is an advocate. He does, we presume, know the value of earlier binding
precedents declaring the law by the highest court of the land.
F
This judgment shall dispose of Election Petition No. I of 2002 and
Special Leave Petition No. 22385 of 2002. The facts are being stated from
the Election Petition which covers and takes care of the points raised in the
special leave petition as well.

Petitioner has challenged the election of Respondent No. I to the office G
of the President of India which was held in pursuance to the notification
dated I Ith June, 2002 published by the Returning Officer Shri R.C. Tripathi,
Secretary General, Rajya Sabha. The said election was conducted under the
provisions of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952
(hereinafter referred to as the Act') and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential
Election Rules, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). H
16 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A In all 54 nomination papers were filed within the time prescribed.
Respondent No. I was nominated by the ruling National Democratic Alliance
and its allies and the main opposition party, i.e. the Indian National Congress
(I) and its allies whereas Captain Lakshami Sehgal, respondent No.2, was
sponsored and nominated by CPl{M) and its allied parties.

B Scrutiny of the nomination papers in connection with the Presidential
Election, 2002 was conducted on 26th of June, 2002 by the Returning Officer.
Nomination papers of all candidates other than respondent Nos. I & 2 were
rejected. Nomination paper of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that
the same was not accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating to the
C candidate in the electoral roll and that the requirements of law were incomplete
for want of proposers and seconders. Petitioner had filed his written objections
to the two sets of nomination papers filed by respondent No. I which were
duly considered and rejected being without any substance. The poll for the
contest between respondent Nos. I & 2 took place on 15th July, 2002.
Respondent No. I was declared elected as the President of India having received
D majority of votes. The result of said election was declared in extraordinary
Gazette of India of 18th July 2002, declaring Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
respondent No. I. as elected to the office of the President of India. Respondent
No. I took oath of the office of the President of India on 25th July, 2002.

E On 10th of July, 2002, petitioner filed C.W.P. No 4119 of2002 under
Article 2261227 of the Constitution of India in the High Court of Judicature
at New Delhi challenging the rejection of his nomination paper and the
acceptance of the nomination papers of respondent Nos. l & 2 herein and the
constitutional validity of various provisions of the Act and the Rules and
Section 29A·of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 being violative of
F Articles 14, 21, 38, 54, 71(1)(3), 79, 80(1) and 324 of the Constitution of
India. The said writ petition was dismissed by a Division Bench of the High
Court of Delhi by a detailed order on 12th July, 2002. Special leave petition
(Civil) No. 22385 of 2002 arises from the said decision of the High Court of
Delhi.
G The election petition No. I of 2002 has been filed seeking a declaration
that the result of the election declaring respondent No. I as the duly elected
President of India be declared void for illegal rejection of the nomination
paper of the petitioner and the illegal acceptance of the nomination paper of
the respondent No. I. The various provisions of the Act and the Rules being
H ultra vires the Constitution of India to which the challenge was laid before
CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM (ASHOK BHAN, J.] 17
the High Court in the writ petition has been laid in the election petition as A
well.

Part II of the Act (Sections 3 to 12) contains provisions relating to the
conduct of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections. Section 3 provides
that the Election Commission for the purpose of each election of the President
and Vice-President shall,in consultation with the Central Government, appoint B
a Returning Officer having his office in New Delhi and may also appoint one
or more Assistant Returning Officers. Under Section 4(1) the Election
Commission by notification is to issue the election programme prescribing
the last date for filing the nominations, the date for scrutiny of nominations,
last date for the withdrawal of candidature and the date on which a poll shall, C
if necessary, take place. Section 5 provides for giving ·of a public notice of
election· by the Returning Officer after the issuance of the notification under
sub-section (I) of Section 4. Section 5A prescribes that any person may be
nominated for election to the office of President or Vice-President if he is
qualified to be elected to that office under the Constitution. Section 58 provides
for presentation of nomination papers and lays down the requirement for a D
valid nomination. Sub-section (I) of Section 5 requires that nomination papers
completed in the prescribed form must be subscribed by candidate as assenting
to the nomination. In Clause (a) of Section 5 (I), as it stood pri<ir to 5.6.1997,
prescribed that in case of Presidential Election, the nomination papers shall
also be subscribed by at least ten electors as proposers and at least ten electors E
as seconders. Section 58 (2) lays down that each nomination paper shall be
accompanied by a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate in the
electoral roll for the parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is
registered as an elector. Any nomination paper which is not accompanied by .
the certified copy is required to be rejected under section 58(4). Section 5C,
prior to 5.6.1997, prescribed that a candidate shall not be deemed to be duly F
nominated for election unless he deposits or causes to be deposited a sum of
two thousand five hundred rupees. Section 5E makes provisions for scrutiny
of nomination papers by the Returning Officer. Ground (c) of Section 5E~3)
provides for rejection of a nomination paper if it is not subscribed by the
required number of proposers or seconders and ground (e) provides for G
rejection of the nomination ·papers on the ground of failure to comply with
any of the provisions of Section 58 or Section 5C. Section 8 lays down the
procedure in contested and uncontested elections. Section 9 provides for
manner of voting at the elections and Section I 0 deals with counting of
votes. Section. 11 provides for declaration of results on the completion of
i" counting of votes. H
18 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A By Act 35/97 in clause (a) of section 58 instead of JO proposers and
I0 seconders, provisions have been made that in the case of election to the
office of President there should be at least 50 electors as proposers and at
least 50 electors as seconders. In Section 5C the deposit amount was increased
from Rs. 2500 to Rs. 15,000.

B Part Ill of the Act (Sections 13 to 20) contains provisions relating to
dispute~ regarding elections. Section 13(a) defines "candidate" to mean a
person who has been or claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate
at an election. Section 14(1) provides that no election shall be called in
question except by presenting an election petition to the authority specified
C in sub-section (2). This Court has been specified as the authority to try the
election petition. Sub-section (I) of Section 14(A) lays down that an election
petition can either be presented by any candidate at such election or in the
case of Presidential election, by twenty or more electors joined together as
petitioners. Section 18 prescribes the grounds on which the election of a
returned candidate can be declared to be void. Clause (c) of Section 18 with
D which we are concerned provides that the election can be declared to be void
if the nomination of a candidate has been wrongly rejected or the nomination
of the successful candidate has been wrongly accepted.

We did not deem it necessary to issue notice in these petitions as the
E points raised in the election petition as well as in the special leave petition
already stand concluded by the previous judgments of this Court.

Section 14 of the Act provides that no election shall be called in question
except by presenting an election petition to the authority specified in sub-
section (2). Sub-section (2) specifies that the Supreme Court of India shall
F have the jurisdiction to try an election petition. Sub-section (3) provides that
every election petition shall be presented to such authority in accordance
with the provisions of this Part and of the rules made by the Supreme Court
under Article 145. Part VII, Order XXXIX of the Rules made by this Court,
known as Supreme Court Rules, 1966, contaills rules relating to election
petition filed under Part III of Section 14(3) of the Act Rule 2 of the Order
G XXXIX lays down that an application calling in question an election shall
only be by a petition made and presented in accordance with the provisions
of this Order. Rule 34 provides that subject to the provisions of this Order
or any special order or directions of the Court, the procedure in an election
petition shall follow, as nearly as may be, the procedure in proceedings
H before the Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction. Thus, the procedure ~·
,
\ CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM (ASHOK BHAN, J.) 19
3
contained in Part III of the rules of this Court including Order XXIll relating A
to the institution of suits by plaints, applies to the proceedings commenced
by election petitions after reading .the word "petition" for plaint". Rule 6 of
these Rules provides that this Court, after the plaint has been presented to the
Registrar and numbered, shall reject the plaint "where it does not disclose a
cause of action", or where "the suit appears from the statement in the plaint B
to be barred by any law'. Since the points raised in this petition stand
concluded by the previous judgments of this Court we have not deemed it
necessary to issue notice and dispose of the petition at the preliminary stage.
The points which arise for consideration before us are:

(I) Does the petitioner have a locus standi to maintain his election C
petition, or_ in other words, is he duly nominated candidate in
accordance with provisions of Sections SB and SC of the
Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act?

(2) Has the petition put a valid challenge to the validity of Sections
SB and SC of the Act or any other provisions of the Act and D
Rules?

(3) ls the petition maintainable?

Article S4 of the Constitution of India provides that the President shall
be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected E
members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the
Legislative Assemblies of the States. The manner of election of the President
is based on proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote
by secret ballot. Article 71 lays down as follows:

"71. Matters relating to, or connected with, the election of a F
President or Vice-President.-(!) All doubts and disputes arising out
of or in connection with the election of a President or Vice-President
shall be inquired into and decided by thi: Supreme Court whose
decisions shall be final.

(2) If the election of a person as President or Vice-President is G
declared void by the Supreme Court, acts done by him in the exercise
and performance of the powers and duties of the office of President
or Vice-President, as the case may be, on or before the date of the
decision of the Supreme Court shall not be invalidated by reason of
that declaration. H
20 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A (3) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may
by law regulate any matter relating to or connected with the election
of a President or Vice-President.

(4) The election of a person as President or Vice-President shall
not be called in question on the ground of the existence of any vacancy
B for whatever reason among the members of the electoral college
electing him."

To carry out the purpose of Article 71(3) of the Constitution of India
the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act, 1952 was enacted by
C Parliament. The grounds on which the election can be questioned as well as
the mode of questioning it were laid down by the Act. Section I4A of the Act
provides an election petition calling in question an election may be presented
on one or more of the grounds specified in sub-section ( 1) of Section 18 and
Section 19 to the Supreme Court by any candidate at such election or in the
case of Presidential election by 20 or more electors joined as petitioners.
D Section 13 (a) of the Act defines the 'candidate' to mean a person who has
been or claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate at an election.

The petitioner admits in his petition that he was not duly nominated as
per requirement of the provisions of Section 58 of the Act which provides
that each candidate shall.
E
" ......... deliver to the Returning Officer at the place specified in
this behalf in the public notice issued under Section 5 a nomination
paper completed in the prescribed form and subscribed by the candidate
as assenting to the nomination, and

F (a) in the case of Presidential election, also by at least fifty electors
as proposers and at least fifty electors as seconders;

(b) in the case of Vice-Presidential election, also by at least twenty
electors as proposers and at least twenty electors as seconders:

G Provided that no nomination paper shall be presented to the
Returning Officer on a day which is a public holiday.

xxx xxx xxxx"·

Again Section 5C provides that:
H
CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM {ASHOK BHAN, J.] 21
"SC. (I) A candidate shall not be deemed to be duly nominated for A
election unless he deposits or causes to be deposited a sum of fifteen
thousand rupees;

Provided that where a candidate has been nominated by more
than one nomination paper for the same election, not more than one
deposit shall be required of him under this sub-section. B
xxx xxx xxx"

Nomination paper of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that it
was not proposed and seconded by the requisite number of proposers and
seconders. This point was examined exhaustively by this Court in the case of C
very petitioner now before us against the former President Neelam Sanjeeva
Reddy reported in Charan Lal Sahu v. Nee/am Sanjeeva Reddy, [1978) 2
sec 500 and it was held that:
"The result of a careful consideration by us of the provisions mentioned D
above is that we think that, the procedure or manner for questioning
the Presidential election having been laid down, the petitioner must
come with in the four corners of that procedure in order to have a
locus standi to challenge the Presidential election and to be able to
maintain this petition. If he neither is nor can claim to be a candidate,
on assertions made by him in his petition itself, he would be lacking E
the right to question the election of Shri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy as
President oflndia. The effect of the provision of Sections 14( 1),14(2)
and 14(3) and 14A(l) of the Act, read with Order XXXIX, Rules 2
and 5 of the Rules of this Court, is that the petition before us is barred
because the petitioner has not got the required locus standi to maintain F
it."

Again in Charan Lal Sahu v. Giani Zail Singh, [1984) I SCC 390, the
point raised by the petitioner on the second limb of Section 13(a) of the Act
defining the candidate to mean; "claims to have been duly nominated as a
candidate" was rejected. Rejecting the said contention this Court observed: G
"The petitioners, however, contend that even if it is held that they
were not duly nominated as candidates, their petitio.ns cannot be
dismissed on that ground since they "claim to have been duly

l nominated". It is true that, in the matter of chim to candidacy, a
person who claims to have been duly nominated is on par with a H
22 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A person who, in fact was duly nominated. But, the claim to have been
duly nominated cannot be made by a person whose nomination paper
does not comply with the mandatory requirements of Section 5-8
(1 )(a) of the Act. That is to say, a person whose nomination paper,
admittedly, was not subscribed by the requisite number of electors as
proposers and seconders cannot claim that he was duly nominated.
B Such a claim can only be made by a person who can show that his
nomination paper conformed to the provisions of Section 5-B and yet
it was rejected, that is, wrongly rejected by the Returning Officer. To
illustrate, if the Returning Officer rejects a nomination paper on the
ground that one of the ten subscribers who had proposed the
C nomination is not an elector, the petitioner can claim to have been
duly nominated if he proves that the said proposer was in fact an
'elector'.

Thus, the occasion for a person to make a claim that he was duly
nominated can arise only if his nomination paper complies with the
D statutory requirements which govern the filing of nomination papers
and not otherwise. The.claim that he was 'duly' nominated necessarily
implies and involves the claim that his nomination paper conformed
to the requirements of the statute. Therefore, a contestant whose
nomination paper is not subscribed by at least ten electors as proposers
and ten electors as seconders, as required by Section 5-B (!)(a) of the
E
Act, cannot claim to have been duly nominated, any more than a
contestant who had not subscribed his assent to his own nomination
can. The claim of a contestant that he was duly nominated must arise
out of his compliance with the provisions of the Act. It cannot arise
out of the violation of the Act. Otherwise, a person who had not filed
F any nomination paper at all but who had only informed the Returning
Officer orally that he desired to contest the election could also contend
that he "claims to have been duly nominated as a candidate".

The question regarding locus standi was examined for the third time in
the election petition filed by the petitioner in Charan Lal Sahu v. K.R.
G Narayanan and Ors., [1998] I sec 56, it was again reiterated that:
"In view of the decisions referred to above, it must be held that
neither of the petitioners was a "candidate" as the said expression is
defined in Section 2 (d) of the Act since neither of them had been
H
duly nominated nor could he claim to have been nominated as a I
CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM [ASHOK BHAN, J.] 23
candidate inasmuch as the nomination papers filed by both of them A
did not comply with the mandatory requirements of Section 5·8(l)(a)
of the Act and the nomination paper of Petitioner 2 was filed without
complying with the requirements of Section 5-8 (2) of the Act. On
that view it must be held that neither of the petitioners has the locus
standi to maintain the petition".
B
In view of the authoritative pronouncements of this Court the petitioner
cannot be regarded as a person who had been nominated or can claim to have
been duly nominated as candidate at the election in question. His nomination
papers were thus rightly rejected by the returning officer and the petition on
J his behalf is, therefore, not maintainable. C
Question regarding the constitutional validity of Sections 58 and 5C
before its amendment by Act No.35 of 1997 which provided that there should
be at least ten electors as proposers and ten electors as seconders was examined
in Fakruddin Ali Ahmed's case supra and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy's case
(supra). The validity of these two sections as they existed then was upheld. D
The validity of amending Act No. 35 of 1997 amending Sections 58 and 5C
providing for at least fifty electors as proposers and seconders instead of ten
proposers and seconders as provided prior to the amendment was questioned
in K.R. Narayanan 's case (supra). The same was rejected and these two
provisions were held to be intra vires. It was held:
E
"As regards the submission urged on behalf of the petitioners
regarding the validity of the provisions of Section 5-8 and 5-C as
they stood prior to 5-6-1997, it may be stated that the validity of the
said provisions has been upheld by this Court in Charan Lal Sahu v.
Fakruddin Ali Ahmed; Charan Lal Shau v. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy p
and Charan Lal Sahu v. Giani Zail Singh. Petitioner I was a party to
all these decisions. The challenge to the validity of the amendments
introduced by the Ordinance and the Amendment Act has been
negatived by this Court in the three writ petitions referred to above,
two out of which were filed by Petitioner I. The petitioners have
urged that in this petition the challenge to the validity of Section 5- G
8 is based on the ground that it violates the principle of secrecy of
ballot incorporated in Article 55(3) of the Constitution and that this
ground has not been considered in the earlier decisions. We do not
find any merit in this contention. The requirement in Section 5-8
(!)(a) about the nomination paper being subscribed by a particular H
24 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A number of electors as proposers and seconders does not, in any way,
involve the infringement of the secrecy of ballot at the election
inasmuch as the elector who has subscribed the nomination paper of
a person as a proposer or as a seconder is free to cast his vote in
favour of any candidate and is not bound to vote for the person
whose nomination paper he has subscribed as a proposer or seconder.
B The identity of the candidate in whose favour he has cast his vote is
not to be disclosed."

The contention on the question as to whether there was a conflict between
Articles 58 and 71 of the Constitution of India was also rejected in Nee/am
C Sanjeeva Reddy 's case supra by observing thus: \
\"

"It is clear to us that Article 58 only provides the qualifications .
or conditions for the eligibility of a candidate. It has nothing to do
with the nomination of a candidate which requires ten proposers and
ten seconders. We think that in the case of an election to such a high
D office as that of the President of India, it is quite reasonable to lay
down the condition that a person who is allowed to contest the election
as a candidate must have at least ten proposers and ten seconders
from amongst hundreds of electors who are legislators. We think that
the subject-matter of Sections 58 and 5C is completely covered by
the provisions of Article 71(1) of the Constitution set out above. We
E also think that there is no force in the contention that Sections 58 and
5C of the Act are in conflict with Article 14 of the Constitution. The
conditions laid down in Sections 58 and 5C apply to all persons who
want to. be candidates at a Presidential election without any
discrimination. They prima facie imposed reasonable conditions to
p be observed by any person who wants seriously to contest at a
Presidential election. Hence, this provision would be valid even apart
from Article 71(3) of the Constitution."

Every conceivable challenge of these provisions has already been upheld
by this Court. in the aforesaid three judgments in the petitioner's own case
G and in Mithilesh Kumar Sinha v. Returning Officer for Presidential Election
[1993] Supp 4 SCC 386. We need not examine these points any further in
view of the consistent view of this Court with which we respectfully agree.

Another. contention which just needs to be noticed and rejected is
regarding the validity of the procedure prescribed under the Act and the
H Rules for holding the election of the President and Vice-President or its being
CHARAN LAL SAHU v. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM [ASHOK BHAN, J.) 25
ultra vires the Constitution of India. The procedure laid under the Act and the A
Rules has already been upheld in the judgments, already referred to.

Objections to the validity of the nomination paper filed by respondent
No. I which was rejected by the Returning Officer are so frivolous that they
do not require attention of this Court. In our opinion, Returning Officer
rightly overruled the objections filed by the petitioner questioning the validity B
of the nomination paper filed by respondent No. I.

Before we conclude, we would like to advert to an aspect which was
specifically pointed out by this Court in K.R. Narayanan 's case (supra) which
I
cannot be ignored rather needs to be highlighted again. It was observed that
/ before filing the said election petition the petitioner had earlier filed four C
election petitions challenging the election of the returned candidates in the
Presidential elections held in the years 1974, 1977, 1982 and 1997. All these
election petitions were dismissed on the ground that the petitioner had no
locus standi to maintain the election petition. This Court in K.R. Narayanan 's
case (supra) after referring to the observations made in the earlier judgments D
that frivolous election petitions on the same very ground should not be filed,
while dismissing the petition, imposed the cost of Rs. I0,000. Coming down
heavily against the filing of such frivolous election petitions it was observed:

"We find that these observations have had no effect. This election
petition which has been jointly filed by the two petitioners shows no E
improvement. It suffers from the same defects as the earlier petitions
filed by the petitioners. It seems that the petitioners are obsessed with
a desire that they shou Id find a place in some Book of Records. They
find the temptation to file an election petition after the Presidential
election too difficult to resist. It is a matter of regret that Petitioner F
I, who happens to be an advocate himself, has been persisting in his
pastime knowing well that such conduct on his part amounts to an
abuse oNhe process of law. This Court has so far refrained from
imposing costs in the election petitions that were filed by the petitioners
earlier. It is high time that the petitioners who have persisted in filing
this petition in spite of the law laid down authoritatively by this Court G
in the· earlier decisions are saddled with costs."

It seems that the petitioner, although an advocate, has not learnt any
lesson from the observations made by this Court in the earlier judgments and
that is why we have begun the judgment with the observations that such a
conduct on the part of the petitioner who happens to be an advocate is H
26 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2002] SUPP. 5 S.C.R.

A regrettable. We hope he does not do so again.
For the reasons stated above, we do not find any merit either in the
Election petition or in the special leave petition against the judgment of the
High Court of Delhi and dismiss them with costs which are assessed on Rs.
25,000 in each case. The costs so deposited shall be transferred to the Supreme
B Court Legal Service Committee. It is also directed that no petition filed by
the petitioner-in-person shall be entertained in this Court till the amount of
costs imposed is deposited.

K.K.T. Petitions dismissed.
'\