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Free and Fair Elections is an essence of Constitutional Democracy
The SC Bench of Justice Ramana, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Sanjeev Khanna decided a case of Laxmi Singh and ors v. Rekha Singh and observed that one of the fundamental principles of election law emphasis upon the maintenance of fair and free elections. In this case, some elected members of the Zila panchayat in Pragyaraj, UP moved a no confidence motion against Adhyaksha. The Additional District Judge of Allahabad acted as the presiding officer in the meeting. 48 out of 51 members voted in favour of motion, two against the motion and one was rejected as invalid. The presiding officer declared that the motion was passed by majority.
The HC set aside the meeting approving the motion on the grounds that some of the members violated the rule of secrecy of the ballots. There was a violation of Rules 4 and 7 of 1966 Rules. It further held that disclosure of the vote during the no-confidence motion was in violation of the statutory scheme and it would affect the purity of the elections. The Court set aside the minutes of the non-confidence motion.
The Petitioner submitted that the judgment is not in consonance with the holdings of the Court in matter of secrecy of voting. The Principle of Secrecy of ballots is based on public policy which aimed at ensuring that the casting of the vote occurs without any fear or favour and without any apprehension of disclosure. The petitioner said that he HC has wrongly held the voluntary waiver principle could not be applied to the case with respect of the members of the Zila Panchayat.
The SC observed that the principle of secrecy of ballots is an important aspect of constitutional democracy whose ail is the achievement of this goal. The Justice will be met if the motion is put to revote by secret ballots with the district judge or his nominee with the fixation of the time by the District Judge which shall not be later than two months from the date of judgement. It would ensure a just and fair election and end the contentions between the parties,
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