BALWANT SINGH Vs. CHATER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BALWANT Singh, petitioner was elected as Sarpanch. His election was questioned by Chater Singh respondent No. 1, on the ground that Balwant Singh was below 25 years of age and was, thus, not eligible to contest the election. The Prescribed Authority accepted this allegation and declared the election of Balwant Singh as illegal. Chater Singh was the only other candidate, who had contested the election and was, thus, declared elected by the Prescribed Authority, which was dismissed vide Annexure P-l, dated April 15, 1994. Thus, the orders of the Prescribed Authority and the Appellate Court are being impugned in this writ petition. On notice of motion, the respondent, Chater Singh, had contested the claim.

(2.) AS far as the age of the petitioner is concerned, that being a finding of fact is not open to challenge in the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) IN the present case, Annexure P-3, is the election petition which indicates in the prayer clause that a specific claim was made that on declaration of the election of Balwant Singh as illegal, election petitioner, Chater Singh, should be declared as elected. That being the position in view of Section 13-DD (2) of the Act, the Prescribed Authority was to consider as to whether Chater Singh could be declared or not. Since there were only two candidates in the field and one having been held to be ineligible to contest the election, the other candidate was required to be declared as elected. This was exactly the position in Tarlok Singh v. Gurmel Singh and Ors. , (1986-2) 90 P. L. R. 393. On July 12, 1994 while deciding Civil Writ Petition No. 5870 of 1994 (Dablir Singh v. Haryana State, (1994-3) 108 P. L. R. 29) we have approved the ratio laid down in Tarlok Singh's case (supra) in case of Dalbir Singh, referred to above. The ratio of the decision in case of Ram Singh v. Executive Magistrate 1st Class and Ors. , 1978 R. L. R. 342 thus, cannot be applied to the case in hand as a specific prayer was made in the election petition for declaring the election petitioner as elected.