New Delhi, November 1

Voters have a fundamental right to know the academic qualification of a candidate and any false declaration on this count can warrant rejection of nomination papers, the Supreme Court has held.The Bench also ruled that if there are only two candidates in the fray and it is proved that the returned candidate’s nomination papers have been “improperly accepted”, then the one who lost the poll does not need to produce proof that the election has been materially affected.The verdict came on two cross appeals filed by Mairembam Prithviraj alias Prithviraj Singh and Pukhrem Sharatchandra Singh against each other challenging the judgment of the High Court of Manipur.The High Court had declared as “void” the election of Prithviraj, who had contested the 2012 polls on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket against Congress nominee Sharatchandra from Moirang Assembly seat in Manipur.It was alleged that Prithviraj, in his nomination papers, had said he was an MBA, which was found to be incorrect. Upholding the High Court verdict, the Bench said it was not “in dispute that the appellant did not study MBA in Mysore University” and the plea that it was a “clerical error” cannot be accepted.“Since 2008, the appellant was making the statement that he has an MBA degree. The information provided by him in the affidavit filed in Form 26 would amount to a false declaration. The said false declaration cannot be said to be a defect which is not substantial…,” the Bench said.The Bench also dealt in detail the legal question whether it was necessary to “plead and prove that the result was materially affected when the nomination of the returned candidate was found to have been improperly accepted, more so, when there are only two candidates contesting the election.” “There is no dispute that an election cannot be set aside on the ground of improper acceptance of any nomination without a pleading and proof that the result of the returned candidate was materially affected.The Bench did not allow the plea of the losing candidate that he be declared winner as the election of the returned candidate has been declared void. — PTI