In Brief
A newly elected Member of Parliament denied receiving personal service of an election petition, claiming the notice was served on his staff member instead. The High Court found the notice was actually served personally and authorized criminal prosecution for perjury. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that perjury prosecution requires deliberate falsehood on a matter of substance with reasonable likelihood of conviction, and must be expedient in the interests of justice. Here, given the underlying election petition was dismissed and the statement appeared innocent rather than deliberately false, prosecution was not warranted despite the inaccuracy in the affidavit.
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