CHAKKALA RAMA RAO Vs. GADDAM CHALAPATHI RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner seeks the issuance of a wr it of certiorari for emoval of the order of the Election Commissioner avoiding the election of the etitioner.

(2.) The petitioner was elected the President of the Payakaraopeta Panchayat Samithi on 5th November, 1959, with a majority of fifteen, he having secured 23 votes as against eight votes polled by his opponent, the respondent. Immediately, the respondent filed an election petition, O.P. No. 26 of 1959, under section 11 of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Samithis and Zilla Parishads Act (XXVI of 1959) (hereinafter to be referred to as ' the Act') on 10th November, 1959, to set aside the election of the petitioner on the ground (i) that the petitioner committed election offences under sections 171-6 and 171-E, Indian Penal Code, in that he treated fifteen Presidents of the Village Panchayats to feasts for some days prior to the election and transported them to polling stations in vehicles hired by him, and (ii) that the respondent was disqualified under section 9 (d) of the Act by reason of having a subsisting interest in some contracts for some work being done by the Samithi in question. The petitioner filed a counter denying the allegations relating to the commission of election offences and asserting that a petition under section 11 of the Act to set aside an election was not maintainable. Sometime later, the respondent instituted O.S. No. 181 of 1959 on the file of the District Munsif's Court, Yellamanchili, for identical reliefs with similar allegations.

(3.) Pending the suit and the original petition, the Government framed rules under section 69 of the Act to govern the decision of election disputes and they came into operation on 3rd March, 1960. The respondent, in order to take advantage of the rules, applied for amendment of the petition to convert it into one under the aforementioned rules. Despite the opposition of the petitioner that the application for amendment was not sustainable as the rules were inapplicable to applications filed prior to the promulgation of the rules, the Election Commissioner accepted the petition for amendment in the view that they were procedural in nature and would govern petitions pending on the date of the coming into force of the rules.