Hari Shankar Prasad vs Shahid Ali Khan & Ors

The Supreme Court, in this appeal under Section 16(A) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, upheld the Patna High Court's dismissal of the election petition challenging the election of Shahid Ali Khan. The appellant, Hari Shankar Prasad, contested the rejection of 90 ballot papers marked with a distinguishing mark instead of the official voting stamp. The Court found that the Election Commission's directive was not followed, but upheld the election result as the rejected votes did not affect the outcome, maintaining that the election was valid despite the procedural error.