Parwati vs State Of U.P. And 10 Others
2022 Latest Caselaw 8827 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 

?Court No. - 18
 

 
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 22141 of 2022
 

 
Petitioner :- Parwati
 
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 10 Others
 
Counsel for Petitioner :- Udai Chandani
 
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Neeraj Chandra Srivastava
 

 
Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.

The argument advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner is that instead of deciding the application for recount of votes moved by the election petitioner, the Sub Divisional Officer wholly illegally proceeded to decide the entire election petition by deciding the issues without following the detailed procedure in the matter by appreciating evidence after giving opportunity in respect thereof to the parties to lead oral evidence. He passed final order to the effect that on the basis of recount of votes the election of either of the parties be declared. He submits that this judgment is in the teeth of Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Mohammad Mustafa v. Up Ziladhikari, Phoolpur, Azamgarh and others 2007 (6) AWC 5536.

From the perusal of records, the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer/ Election Tribunal, the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner appears to have substance and matter requires consideration.

At this stage, Sri N.K. Pandey, learned counsel for the respondent no. 7/ election petitioner submits that keeping the petition pending would not serve the purpose and will only delay the proceedings. He submits that the Court may set aside the order and remand the matter to the Sub Divisional Officer to decide this time the misc. application of the petitioner for recount of votes during pendency of the election petition, on merits.

To this above request, learned counsel for the petitioner has no objection, nor learned Standing counsel has any objection to the same.

In view of the above, the order dated 29.07.2022 passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Sadar, Mirzapur/ Election Tribunal is hereby set aside. The election petition stands restored before the Sub Divisional Officer and the misc. application of the election petitioner regarding recount of votes also stands restored. The parties shall appear before the Election Tribunal on or before 08.08.2022 to press and contest the misc. application for recount of votes. The Tribunal shall proceed to decide the misc. application only for the purposes of recount of votes after hearing the respective parties within a period of six weeks of receipt of certified copy of this order Parties are directed not to seek any adjournment before the Election Tribunal.

As the order is being passed with the consent of parties, any observation made in this order will not influence the Tribunal while deciding the miscellaneous application for recounting.

With the aforesaid observations and directions, this petition stands disposed of.

Order Date :- 2.8.2022

IrfanUddin