appellant in her return, the total expense incurred by the appellant on her election was found by the High Court to be Rs. 31,976.47. 241. In appeal before us Mr. Shanti Bhushan has assailed the finding of the High Court in so far as the High Court has not accepted the case of the respondent that the appellant incurred expenses on the cost of hiring, petrol and the salary of the drivers for 23 vehicles. It may be mentioned that the respondent in para 13 of the election petition referred to 32 vehicles which were alleged to have been hired by the appellant, but both before the High Court and in appeal before us learned counsel for the respondent has confined his argument to 23 vehicles. 242. To appreciate the point of controversy between the parties, it may be necessary to set out some material facts. Section 160 of the RP Act provides inter alia that if it appears to the State Government that in connection with an election held within the State, any vehicle in needed or is likely to be needed for the purpose of transport of ballot boxes to or from any polling station, or transport of members of the police force for maintaining order during the conduct of such election, or transport of any officer or other person for performance of any duties in connection with such election, the Government may by order in writing requisition such vehicle, provided that no vehicle which is being lawfully used by a candidate or his agent for any purpose connected with the election of such candidate shall be requisitioned until the completion of the poll at such election. It appears that 23 vehicles, described at some places as cars and at other places as jeeps, were requisitioned by the district authorities Rae Bareli for election purposes under that above provision. On February 23, 1971 Dal Bahadur Singh, who was the President of the District Congress Committee Rae Bareli, addressed a letter to the District Officer Rae Bareli praying that the above mentioned 23 vehicles, of which the numbers were given, had been taken by the District Congress Committee Rae Bareli for the Parliamentary constituencies of Rae Bareli, Amethi and Ram Sanehi Ghat. There are, it may be stated seven Assembly constituencies in Rae Bareli district. Out of them, five Assembly constituencies constitute Rae Bareli Parliamentary constituency. One of the Assembly constituencies in Rae Bareli district is part of Ram Sanehi Ghat Parliamentary constituency, while the seventh Assembly constituency is part of Amethi Parliamentary constituency. On February 24, 1971 a reply was sent on behalf of the District Election Officer to Dal Bahadur Singh regarding the latter's request for release of 23 vehicles. It was pointed out in the reply that it was not possible to release the vehicles in favour of any party for election purposes. At the same time, it was mentioned that the question of releasing of the vehicles could be considered at the request of a candidate or his election agent. On receipt of the above reply, Dal Bahadur Singh sent the same to Yashpal Kapur on February 24, 1971 along with note A43, the material part of which reads as under: "You are requested to kindly write a letter with your recommendation to the Election Officer so that the cars taken by the District Congress Committee may be released. I have tried to find out Shri Vidyadhar Vajpayee