SURENDER SINGH KHRUB Vs. STATE ELECTION COMMISSION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE intra -court appeals impugn the common judgment dated 24th July, 2014 of the learned Single Judge of this Court of dismissal of W.P.(C) No.3199/2012 and W.P.(C) No.3180/2012 filed by the appellants respectively. Having prima facie not found any merit on a reading of the appeals, we have heard the counsel for the appellants extensively at the stage of admission.

(2.) EACH of the appellants had preferred the writ petitions from which these appeals arise for the following identical reliefs: -

(3.) THE counsel for the respondents raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the writ petitions on the ground that election disputes can only be raised by way of an election petition. Reliance in this regard was placed on N.P. Ponnuswami Vs. The Returning Officer, Namakkal Constituency : AIR 1952 SC 64 and on Avtar Singh Hit Vs. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee : (2006) 8 SCC 487. Faced therewith, the counsel for the appellants / writ petitioners on the one hand relied on K. Venkatachalam Vs. A. Swamickan : (1999) 4 SCC 526 and on the other hand, to obviate the said objection to the maintainability of the writ petitions, gave up the prayers (a) , (c) , (d) and (e) aforesaid claimed in the writ petitions and confined the relief in the writ petitions to as claimed in prayer (b) supra only.