NUR BUX Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a dispute over the election of respondent No. 5 to a seat in a Gram Panchayat, known as Hamirbati No. 1 Gram Panchayat. The petitioner was also a candidate in the said election and both the petitioner and the respondent No. 5 secured equal number of votes, namely, 65 votes each. There being a tie, the Presiding Officer of the election decided to have the selection made by lot. The method employed by him was to spin a coin, with one side thereof adopted by each of the candidates, and to declare that candidate elected whose side of the coin fell uppermost. As a result of the spin of the coin the respondent No. 5 was declared elected. Dissatisfied with the manner of election the petitioner, who lost in the lot, moved this Court, under Article 226 of the Constitution, and obtained this Rule.

(2.) IT was contended on behalf of the petitioner that Rule 22 of the Rules under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1956 made an arbitrary delegation of powers to the Presiding Officer by authorising him to hold lot in such manner as he may deem fit and should be declared to be bad for that reason. Rule 22 of the West Bengal Panchayat Act reads as follows:

(3.) THE expression 'lot' has a well-known meaning. In the Oxford English Dictionary the meaning of the word is given as,