Supreme Court: an election petition presented by the candidate's lawyer, not the candidate, is liable to dismissal

The Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition challenging the Madras High Court's rejection, at the threshold, of an election petition against a winning candidate in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, because the petition had been presented by the petitioner's counsel rather than by the petitioner in person. Section 81(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires an election petition to be presented 'by' the candidate or elector concerned, and Section 86(1) mandates that the High Court 'shall dismiss' a petition that does not comply with Section 81. The Court traced the provision's history: before a 1966 amendment, presentation through an authorised agent or by registered post to the Election Commission was expressly permitted, but Parliament removed both routes when it shifted presentation to the High Court, leaving personal presentation as the only valid mode.

Since the RP Act is a self-contained code that does not borrow from the Limitation Act or general procedural law, and since the petitioner could not show he was even present alongside his counsel when the petition was filed, the defect was not curable. The Court distinguished precedent on defective affidavits under Section 83, which does not attract mandatory dismissal under Section 86, from the mandatory, non-curable requirement under Section 81.