RAJAIAH MARAVENI Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these cases contested in the elections held in 2013 and 2014 to various posts falling within the purview of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (for brevity, 'the Act of 1994'). Some of them contested for the posts of Sarpanches/Ward Members of Gram Panchayats in the elections held on 23.07.2013, 27.07.2013 and 31.07.2013 while others were in the fray for the posts of members of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs)/Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) in the elections held in April, 2014. While so, the Telangana State Election Commission (for brevity, 'the Commission') disqualified all the petitioners under Section 19-B of the Act of 1994, which was applicable to the State of Telangana after its formation on 02.06.2014. By way of these writ petitions, they assail the validity of the disqualification visited upon them. Section 19-B of the Act of 1994 speaks of disqualification of candidates for failing to lodge their accounts of election expenses. The provision reads thus:

(2.) Rule 103 is of particular relevance for the purposes of this adjudication and is extracted hereunder:

(3.) The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission prescribed the procedure and the format in which accounts of election expenditure had to be maintained and filed by candidates, vide its orders dated 18.05.2011 and 12.07.2013. This being the statutory milieu, it would be appropriate at this stage to note factual aspects pertinent to this batch of cases. The results of the three-phase elections held on 23.07.2013, 27.07.2013 and 31.07.2013 to the posts of Sarpanches/Ward Members of Gram Panchayats were declared on the date of each such poll. Therefore, the stipulated forty-five days for submission of accounts of election expenses by candidates who participated in these elections expired on 05.09.2013, 09.09.2013 and 13.09.2013 respectively. As regards elections to the posts of members of MPTCs and ZPTCs, they were held in two phases in April, 2014 - on 06.04.2014 and 11.04.2014. The results of both elections were however declared on the same day, viz., 13.05.2014. In consequence, the stipulated forty-five days for submission of accounts of election expenses by such candidates expired on 26.06.2014. Be it noted that some of the petitioners in these cases claim that they submitted their accounts of election expenses while others admittedly failed to do so. However, the Commission uniformly claims that none of the petitioners in these cases submitted their accounts of election expenses within time and as per procedure. This question of fact may however not be of any significance for the reasons stated hereinafter. It is on the basis of the alleged failure of the petitioners to submit their accounts of election expenses as per due procedure within the stipulated time that the Commission passed the impugned orders of disqualification in the later part of 2017 in most cases and in early 2018 in the others, exercising power under Section 19-B of the Act of 1994 read with Rule 103(8) of the Rules of 2006, declaring each of the petitioners in these cases as ineligible to contest in any election for any office under the Act of 1994 for three years from the date of issuance of the order.