Assuming that the finding of fact recorded by the High Court in this respect, is correct the appellant can still be not guilty of the commission of corrupt practice under Section 123 (7) of the RP Act in view of the new proviso which has been inserted at the end of clause (7) of Section 123 and which reads as under. "Provided that where any person, in the service of the Government and belonging to any of the classes aforesaid in the discharge or purported discharge of his official duty, makes any arrangements or provides any facilities or does any other act or thing, for, to or in relation to any candidate or his agent or any other person acting with the consent of the candidate or his election agent, (whether by reason of the office held by the candidate or for any other reason), such arrangements, facilities or act or thing shall not be deemed to be assistance for the furtherance of the prospects of that candidate's election." The above proviso has also a direct bearing on the allegation of the respondent that the appellant committed corrupt practice under Section 123 (7) of the RP Act in as much as she or her election agent procured the assistance of members of armed forces of the Union for furtherance of her election prospects because of fact that the members of the armed forces arranged planes and helicopters of the Air Force for her flights to enable her to address meetings in her constituency. 223. It has been argued by Mr. Shanti Bhushan that the words "in the discharge or purported discharge of his official duty" in the above mentioned proviso have reference only to statutory duty and not to other duty performance of which takes place in pursuance of administrative instructions. I find it difficult to accede to the above submission as there is nothing in the above proviso to confine the words "official duty" to duty imposed by statute. Official duty would include not merely duties imposed by statutes but also those which have to be carried out in pursuance of administrative instructions. 224. Mr. Shanti Bhushan during the course of arguments made it plain that apart from his submission with regard to the validity of Act 40 of 1975, his objection relating to the applicability of Act 40 of 1975 was confined to two matters, namely, the connotation of the word ‘‘candidate’’ and the meaning to be attached to official duty. Both these objections have been found by me to be not tenable. I would, therefore, hold that subject to the question as to whether the provisions of Act 40 of 1975 are valid, the grounds on which the High Court has declared the election of the appellant to be void no longer hold good for declaring the said election to be void. 225. We may also before dealing with the validity of Act 40 of 1975 refer to one other change brought about by that Act which has a bearing upon the present case. It was the case of the respondent that the appellant and her election agent made extensive appeals to the religious symbol of cow and calf and thereby committed corrupt practice under Section 123 (3) of the RP Act. Corrupt practice has been defined in that provision as under:‘‘(3) The appeal by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent to vote or refrain from voting for any person on the ground of his religion, race, caste, community or