Gujarat High Court
Amrutaben Ganpatsinhji Thakor vs Gujarat State Election Commission on 14 July, 2025
Author: A.S. Supehia
Bench: A.S. Supehia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9102/2025 ORDER DATED: 14/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 9102 of 2025
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AMRUTABEN GANPATSINHJI THAKOR
Versus
GUJARAT STATE ELECTION COMMISSION & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR CP CHAMPANERI(5920) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS AISHVARYA GUPTA(8018) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
MR AAKASH GUPTA, AGP for the Respondent(s) No.2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R. T. VACHHANI
Date : 14/07/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)
1. The present petition, is very cleverly worded, in order to by-pass
the remedy of filing the Election Petition.
2. Mr. C.P. Champaneri, learned advocate for the petitioner, submits
that the petitioner has no remedy, except to file a writ petition. He
submits that the process adopted by the Returning Officer, in respect of
the Election Petition challenging the election of the returned candidate on
the ground of improper reception, is covered under Section 31 of the
Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993. In support of his submission, he has placed
reliance on the judgments of the Supreme Court in the cases of Mohinder
Singh Gill vs. Chief Election Commissioner, New Delhi, (1978) 1 S.C.C.
405, Election Commission of India vs. Ashok Kumar & Ors., (2000) 8
S.C.C. 216, and Kuldeep Kumar vs. UT Chandigarh and others, (2024) 3
S.C.C. 526. He submits that the petitioner has been ousted from the
election of Sarpanch of Borisana Gram Panchayat due to the illegal
actions of the Returning Officer.
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9102/2025 ORDER DATED: 14/07/2025
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3. Mr. C.P. Champaneri, learned advocate for the petitioner, submits
that the counting of votes was scheduled to take place on 25.06.2025 at
2:00 p.m., but for the reasons best known to respondent No. 4, he did not
reach the place of counting until 5:30 p.m., and thereafter the counting
commenced. Such conduct is in violation of Rule 55 of the Gujarat
Panchayat Elections Rules, 1994. He further submits that the counting
continued until 2:40 a.m. (midnight) on 26.06.2025, which is also in
defiance of the Rules.
4. Mr. C.P. Champaneri, learned advocate for the petitioner, submits
that on 25.06.2025, the petitioner made a representation to respondent
No. 4, pointing out that the votes were counted 10 to 12 feet away from
her and that the Election Officer declared that she had lost by 20 votes.
He submits that, although the petitioner requested the recounting of the
votes, the same was not done. He further submits that photographs placed
in the petition show that on 28.06.2025 and 29.06.2025, there were
holidays on account of Saturday and Sunday, and on 30.06.2025, the
petitioner again went to the office of respondent No. 3 and asked for
relevant information, including the election results, which were not
supplied.
5. Mr. C.P. Champaneri, learned advocate for the petitioner, submits
that the election process concluded on 27.06.2025, and due to the conduct
of the Returning Officer, namely arriving late and initiating the counting
process belatedly and rejecting the application for recounting, it would be
against the judgments of the Supreme Court and in contravention of free
and fair elections. He has referred to the provisions of Rule 61 of the
Gujarat Panchayat Elections Rules, 1994, which pertain to the recounting
of votes, and Rule 60(7), which mandates the Returning Officer to record
the completion of counting in Form 27. He submits that the respondents
may be directed to decide the application for recounting of votes.
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9102/2025 ORDER DATED: 14/07/2025
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6. Mr. C.P. Champaneri, learned advocate for the petitioner, submits
that, except in cases of corrupt practice, no remedy is available to the
petitioner to challenge the election result based on the conduct of the
Returning Officer.
7. Per contra, Ms.Aishvarya Gupta, learned advocate for the
respondents, submits that the application for recounting was considered
and decided by the Election Officer on 30.06.2025. She submits that
when Form 27 was prepared on 25.06.2025, no application for recounting
was made by the petitioner at that time. She further submits that an
effective remedy of filing an Election Petition is available to the
petitioner under Section 31 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993. She
submits that Rule 61(5) of the Gujarat Panchayats Election Rules, 1994,
clearly states that no application for recounting shall be entertained after
the completion of Form-27 and the same is signed. She submits that the
present petition may be rejected.
8. We have heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective
parties.
9. When the writ petition was filed, the petitioner had prayed for
directions on respondent Nos. 3 and 4 to decide the application filed by
the petitioner on 25.06.2025 and 27.06.2025 for recounting of votes,
which has already been considered and decided by the Election Officer
on 30.06.2025. Thereafter, by way of amended prayers, the petitioner has
prayed for setting aside the communication dated 30.06.2025. In fact, by
incorporating such prayers, the petitioner is indirectly questioning the
election of the respondent no.5 as a Sarpanch.
10. The election of the Sarpanch of Borisana Gram Panchayat took
place on 22.06.2025. The counting of votes began on 25.06.2025, and
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9102/2025 ORDER DATED: 14/07/2025
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accordingly, respondent No. 5 was declared the winner of the election.
The petitioner was informed by the Election Officer that she had lost by
20 votes. The petitioner alleges that the counting scheduled to take place
at 2:00 p.m., started at 5:30 p.m.
11. The petitioner alleges that Form 27 was not provided to her by the
Election Officer, and her application for recounting the votes was not
accepted. It is also alleged that on 26.06.2025, a working day, the
petitioner and her election agents visited the offices of respondent Nos. 3
and 4, but both offices were closed, and the petitioner waited the whole
day outside their offices. Neither of the respondents turned up at their
offices. In support of this, she has placed the photographs in the petition.
12. After the petition was filed, specifically making an amendment that
the Election Officer refused to decide the application for recounting, an
order was produced on 30.06.2025 by the Election Officer, wherein the
application was decided with a specific reason assigned therein that the
petitioner had requested recounting after Form-27 was filled-in. The
counting was completed on 25.06.2025.
13. At this stage, we may refer to Section 31 of the Gujarat Panchayats
Act, 1993, which specifically provides for questioning the validity of an
election by filing an Election Petition before the Civil Judge (Junior
Division), and if there be no Civil Judge (Junior Division), then to the
Civil Judge (Senior Division).
14. In the present case, there are disputed questions of fact involved, as
the Election Officer has categorically decided the application filed by the
petitioner. It is urged before us that the application for recounting was
made after Form 27 was filled in, as required under Rule 60(7) of the
Election Rules, 1994.
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9102/2025 ORDER DATED: 14/07/2025
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15. This Court, in this petition, cannot delve into the disputed
questions of fact. Hence, this petition is devoid of any merit. There
cannot be any cavil on the proposition of law, as declared by the Supreme
Court in the aforementioned judgments. However, the same would not
apply to the facts of the present case.
16. The present petition is absolutely ill-conceived and is rejected with
costs of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand). The same shall be
deposited before the Registry of this Court within a period of two weeks
from the receipt of this order.
Sd/- .
(A. S. SUPEHIA, J)
Sd/- .
(R. T. VACHHANI, J)
MVP/12
