SC overturns sarpanch election results in Haryana: When can courts order a recount of votes?

Experts believe that the case marked the first instance of the SC conducting a recount of EVM votes.

Here is a look at the legal pathways available for challenging election outcomes and the remedies courts can provide.

Legal framework for challenging an election

The validity of the results of Parliamentary, Assembly, or state council elections can be challenged by filing an election petition before the High Court of the particular state in which the election was conducted. Election petitions against local government elections are to be filed at the district-level civil courts. The petition can only be filed by a candidate or an elector related to the election in question. Also, it has to be filed within 45 days from the date of declaration of results.

The petition must contain a concise statement of all “material facts” on which the challenge is based. If a petition has allegations of “corrupt practices”, it must provide details such as the names of individuals involved, and the date and place of the alleged act.

The SC has repeatedly held that allegations of corrupt practices are quasi-criminal and require a high standard of proof. Vague or ambiguous claims are not entertained, and a petition that fails to state material facts can be dismissed at the outset.

Grounds for invalidating an election

Courts can declare an election void on several grounds. This includes:

• Bribery, undue influence — such as a candidate failing to disclose their criminal antecedents — or promoting enmity among social groups;
• If the winning candidate was not qualified or was disqualified on the date of their election;
• Improper rejection of a nomination paper of an electoral candidate.
• Improper acceptance of a nomination or the improper reception or rejection of votes (but only when it is proven that these actions materially affected the election’s outcome);
• And non-compliance with the Constitution or any election laws and rules, if such non-compliance materially affected the result.

When courts can order a recount of votes

A recount of votes is one of the remedies a court can order, but it is not granted lightly. As it involves re-examining ballots, it is seen as potentially compromising the secrecy of the vote, a cornerstone of free and fair elections. Therefore, a court will only order a recount if the petitioner presents specific, material facts and provides sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case that a mistake in counting is probable and that a recount is necessary.

Courts usually order vote recounts to take place at the location where the election was held — unlike in the case of the Panipat sarpanch election dispute, in which the SC recounted the votes at its premises.

When courts can declare a new winner

It is rare – but not unprecedented – for a court to void an election and declare another candidate as the winner. The court must be satisfied that the petitioner or another candidate received a majority of the valid votes.

Alternatively, the petitioner must prove that they would have secured a majority of votes if not for the votes obtained by the winning candidate through corrupt practices. This requires concrete evidence to quantify the votes tainted by corruption.

In February 2024, the SC declared a new electoral winner in the Chandigarh mayoral election after it found that the polling station presiding officer had wrongfully marked eight paper ballots as invalid. All the votes had been cast for the losing candidate. The court ordered that these votes be treated as validly cast in the losing candidate’s favour, which helped him win the election.