Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 11 The Impugned Notification is liable to be set aside as arbitrary and disproportionate: (xii) The Impugned Notification is arbitrary and liable to be set aside in so far as the same seeks to achieve in an indirect manner, what cannot be achieved directly. It is evident, as enunciated hereinabove, that the RP Act itself envisages the circumstances in which the Election Commission may countermand or adjourn an election. As such, the Election Commission has sought to overstep its prescribed jurisdiction in the instant case by seeking to do indirectly what it has not been permitted to do directly. It is a well settled proposition of law that, when a statute envisages a certain act to be done in a certain manner, it shall be done in that manner or not at all. As such, the Impugned Notification is a colorable exercise of power that falls afoul of Article 14 of the Constitution. (xiii) A bare perusal of the EC Recommendations clearly demonstrates that all the findings in the instant case were admittedly against only one candidate of another party, who is a rival of the petitioner. There have been no allegations levelled against the petitioner, let alone any opportunity for hearing for the Petitioner, or for any other candidate contesting from the said constituency. In such circumstances, the Impugned Notification seeks to penalize all candidates for the alleged violation of law by one candidate. The said act is patently disproportionate in so far as the desired effect of remedying the corrupt practice http://www.judis.nic.in

Select target paragraph3