Mohd. Abdullah Azam Khan Vs Nawab Kazim Ali Khan (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed under Section 116A of the Representation of People Act, 1951 against the Allahabad High Court judgment dated 16th December, 2019, which had declared the election of the returned candidate from 34-Suar Assembly Constituency, District Rampur, void. The central dispute concerned the returned candidate’s age and whether he had attained the minimum age of 25 years prescribed by Article 173(b) of the Constitution of India for contesting a Legislative Assembly election.
The election petitioner had objected to the returned candidate’s nomination on the ground that his date of birth was 1st January, 1993 and that he was therefore below 25 years of age at the relevant time. The Returning Officer rejected the objection and accepted the nomination. The returned candidate subsequently secured the highest number of votes and was declared elected on 11th March, 2017.
Before the High Court, the election petitioner relied upon academic records, passports, passport applications and a birth certificate issued by Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur, all reflecting the date of birth as 1st January, 1993. The returned candidate disputed the correctness of those records and asserted that he was born on 30th September, 1990 at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Lucknow. He relied upon hospital records, a discharge ticket, a duplicate birth certificate issued by Queen Mary’s Hospital, a birth certificate issued by Nagar Nigam, Lucknow and other evidence.
