Panipat (Haryana): From the first Lok Sabha elections held after independence till now, every time during campaigning, polling and voting, some incidents happen which people remember for decades. Be it the defeat of veteran leaders or a big victory of an ordinary party worker. One such incident is related to the Karnal Lok Sabha seat in Haryana when the counting of votes was done in the Supreme Court.
The story is related to the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency and started with the 1962 Lok Sabha elections. Jan Sangh candidate Rameshwar Nand had defeated Congress Party candidate Virendra Kumar by a big margin. Nand, who became MP, gained fame. Congress did not have any leader who could compete with Nand.
Senior Supreme Court Advocate Ram Mohan Roy recalled, "Swami Rameshwar Nand was proud that no one could defeat him. He had even challenged then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said that if Indira Gandhi also contested the elections against him, she would lose. When the Lok Sabha elections were held in 1967, everyone was surprised by the results from the Karnal seat."
In the 1967 Lok Sabha elections, Congress fielded freedom fighter and local activist Madhav Ram Sharma from Karnal Lok Sabha seat against Nand. In 1967, when there was a clash between Rameshwar Nand and Madhav Ram Sharma. At that time, MLAs in the Karnal and Panipat Assembly constituencies also belonged to Jan Sangh. At that time, Panipat MLA was Fateh Chand. When the results came after the elections in 1967, it surprised everyone. Madhav Ram Sharma defeated Swami Rameshwar Nand in this election by 55 votes.
This defeat created a stir in the Jan Sangh. Even Congress could not believe in this victory. Nand could not digest this defeat. He got the votes counted again. After counting of votes, Madhav Ram Sharma was ahead by 555 votes. The case reached the Supreme Court for recounting. The hearing of the case continued for one year. Boxes of belt paper were also stored in the top court.
After one year, the counting of ballot papers was done for several days in front of the bench of Supreme Court Judge Mohammad Hidayatullah. In the counting, Madhav Ram Sharma was declared the winner by 555 votes. This was the first instance when the counting of votes was done by the Supreme Court
