Election cannot be set aside on ground of irregularity in declaring educational qualification: Calcutta High Court

A candidate's election cannot be set aside on the ground of irregularity in declaring his educational qualification, the Calcutta High Court held on Friday while upholding the election of BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Swapan Majumder [Gopal Seth vs Election Commission of India]..Single-judge Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya held that an uneducated electorate has the right to elect one of them to represent them in the State's Legislative Assembly. .The judge emphasised that majority of the people in India are uneducated if not illiterate and thus it would be a debatable issue as to whether education qualification can be a test for the legitimacy of candidature of a person. "Let it be understood clearly that this is not to denigrate or alleviate the intrinsic worth of education or the essential requirement of education for a country to flourish and for an individual to stand up for his rights. However, at the end of the day, mere educational qualification is not the essential criteria which is required to be satisfied by a candidate to vote or to be elected," the judge observed.An uneducated electorate has the right to elect one of them as their representative in the State Assembly, the judge added. "Hence, seen from such perspective, it cannot be said that even if there was some irregularity in the declaration regarding educational qualification of the private respondent (Majumder), the same would be regarded as improper acceptance of any nomination to vitiate his election itself," the Court held. It further said that a nomination paper of a candidate cannot be rejected on the ground of any defect which is not of a substantial character."Educational qualification, not being an essential criterion for getting elected would not be a defect of a substantial character," the judge underscored. .The Court was hearing a plea filed by one Gopal Seth, who alleged that MLA Majumder faked his educational qualification during the 2021 Assembly elections. The petitioner claimed to have obtained the documents pertaining to Majumder's admission to class V under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act). He contended that the present age of Majumder was 39 and his birth year was recorded as 1982 and therefore his expected year of admission in Class V was to be 1990-92. However, he pointed out that the records of the school's Admission Register for academic years 1989-90 to 1995-96, did not show any record of Majumder's studentship in the school. The bench, however, held that mere production of such document before the court, without anything else was utterly insufficient to come to the serious conclusion that Majumder faked his educational qualification. "It is only a competent criminal court, which upon proper trial and adduction of evidence can arrive at the finding that there is sufficient material to show that Majumder practiced fraud on the ECI and the electorate," the judge held. He further said that the document produced by the petitioner was not corroborated by any substantial material to clinch the allegation against Majumder beyond reasonable doubt. With these observations, the Court dismissed the plea..Senior Advocate Kishore Dutta along with advocates Sanjib Dutta and Anindya Sundar Chatterjee appeared for the Petitioner. Advocate Anuran Samanta represented the ECI. Advocates Sk Md Galib and Sujata Mukherjee represented the State. Advocate Arindam Paul represented MLA Swapan Majumder. .[Read Judgment]