Arjun Singh @APPELLANT@Hash State Of Uttarakhand & Others

1.,"Sale and receipt of the nomination Papers

for election of Chairman, Vice-Chairman

and delegates of the committee of

management",23.07.2018,From 10 am to 12 noon,--

2.,Scrutiny of nomination papers received,23.07.2018,12 noon to 01 pm,

3.,Filing of objections on nomination papers,23.07.2018,From 01 pm to 02 pm,

4.,Disposal of objections,23.07.2018,02 pm to 03 pm,

5.,Withdrawal of nomination,23.07.2018,03 pm to 03:30 pm,

6.,Display of valid nomination paper,23.07.2018,3:30 pm,

7.,Allotment of election symbols,23.07.2018,04 pm to 04:30 pm,

8.,Voting,23.07.2018,04:30 pm to 05:30 pm,

9.,Counting of votes,23.07.2018,Immediately after polling,

10.,Declaration of election result,23.07.2018,"Immediately after

counting",

The only question before this Court is that from which stage the election is to be held now.,,,,

The power to postpone and cancel of such elections is given to the election officer under the Rules framed by the State Government known as,,,,

Uttaranchal Co-operative Societies Rules, 2004. The relevant Rules are 440, 441 and 449 which read as under:-",,,,

“440. If polling or any proceedings of election get disrupted due to riots or open violence at the place of polling or holding election is not possible at,,,,

any place due to any natural calamity or any other cogent reasons, the Election Officer appointed for such election, shall declare postponement of",,,,

election till next date to be notified later. The information of such postponement shall be given to the District Magistrate and the Registrar immediately,,,,

on which the Registrar shall fix the new date for the election.,,,,

Where the State Government is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it difficult to hold the election on the date fixed by the Registrar, it",,,,

may direct the Registrar to postpone the election and thereupon the Registrar shall postpone the election and all proceedings with reference to election,,,,

shall be commenced afresh in all respect:,,,,

Provided that if nominations have been finalised and symbols have been allotted, the process of election shall continue and poll shall be held on such",,,,

date as the Registrar may fix.,,,,

If for any reason the election officer of any society has been disrupted by the District Magistrate, or the Election Officer, the process of election",,,,

shall commence from the stage at which it is disrupted or from a stage prior to that or de novo as the Registrar may decide:,,,,

Provided that if nominations have been finalised and symbols have been allotted, the process of election shall continue and poll shall be held on such",,,,

date as the Registrar may fix.â€​,,,,

The proviso to the rule 449 clearly determines that in case where the election symbols have been allotted, the process of election shall continue",,,,

from the stage where there was a disruption and poll shall be held only from that stage as the Registrar may fix. Meaning thereby that it will not start,,,,

de novo.,,,,

Learned counsel for the authority Sri Paresh Tripathi would argue that the powers have been given under the Rules to the Election Authority or,,,,

the concerned authority which in the present case would be the Election Authority to take a decision whether the election shall be de novo or from the,,,,

point such a disruption had taken place. Undoubtedly, these decisions have to be taken judicially after taking into consideration all the relevant factors.",,,,

In this case, in my considered view definitely elections cannot proceed de novo as such powers have only been given to the State Government in",,,,

an emergency condition which is visualized under Rule 441, though even there the proviso clearly stipulates that it will not be de novo but the process",,,,

shall commence from the point of disruption if the election symbols have already been allotted but the bare reading of Rules 441 and 449 as well the,,,,

intent and the purpose of the entire election exercise and the Rules and the Act for the purpose show that the primary purpose is to expedite the,,,,

elections. Therefore, in my considered view in the present case as well, the process of election will not start de novo, but the process of election will",,,,

only commence from the point of disruption.,,,,

In this case, prior to the disruption which occurred on 15.07.2018, all procedures which had to be completed by 3.30 PM on 15.07.2018 had",,,,

already been completed i.e. the scrutiny of the nomination papers was done. But thereafter some unruly elements entered the office of the Election,,,,

Officer and destroyed the nomination papers which on scrutiny were rejected by the Election Officer. Ultimately, the Election Officer citing law and",,,,

order problem postponed the elections.,,,,

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of a considered view that the elections should resume from the point of disruption i.e.",,,,

the Election Officer will resume the further election process from the stage of displaying the list of valid nomination papers, and not from the stage of",,,,

filing the nomination papers afresh. Meaning thereby that the nomination papers of only such candidates will be considered who have been found to be,,,,

eligible i.e. 20 candidates. Candidature of 5 rejected candidates shall not be considered.,,,,

District Magistrate, Pauri Garhwal and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Pauri Garhwal are hereby directed to ensure that no disturbance takes place",,,,

in the election process and adequate security be provided for completion of the peaceful elections.,,,,

With the observations/directions as above, the writ petition stands disposed of finally.",,,,