[Cites 2, Cited by 0]
Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Manoj Kumar vs The District Collector ... on 16 April, 2026
Author: Kuldeep Mathur
Bench: Kuldeep Mathur
[2026:RJ-JD:17730]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7941/2026
1. Manoj Kumar S/o Shri Viradha Ram, Aged About 30
Years, Resident Of Gram Vadel Nadi, Gram Panchayat
Motinagar, Panchayat Samiti Sindhari, Tehsil Sindhari,
District Balotra, Rajasthan.
2. Kiran Choudhary W/o Shri Manoj Kumar, Aged About 26
Years, Resident Of Gram Vadel Nadi, Gram Panchayat
Motinagar, Panchayat Samiti Sindhari, Tehsil Sindhari,
District Balotra, Rajasthan.
----Petitioners
Versus
1. The District Collector, Balotra, District Balotra, Rajasthan.
2. The Electoral Registration Officer, (Panchayat), Sindhari
(S.d.m. Sindhari), District Balotra, Rajasthan.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Aidan Choudhary
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sanjay Raj Paliwal, GC.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KULDEEP MATHUR
Order
16/04/2026
By way of filing the present writ petition, the petitioners have
prayed for the following reliefs:
"It is, therefore, humbly and respectfully prayed on
behalf of the petitioner that this writ petition of the petitioner
may kindly be
allowed and: -
A. Issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ,
Order or Direction, quashing and setting aside the Impugned
Order dated 20.02.2026 (Annex.16) passed by Respondent
No. 2, directing deletion of the names of the Petitioners from
Serial Nos. 130 and 131 of Ward No. 02 of the Panchayat
Election Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram Panchayat Motinagar;
B. Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature
of mandamus, directing Respondent No.2 (District Collector,
Balotra) to decide the Appeal filed by the Petitioners
expeditiously,;
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C. Pending hearing and final disposal of the present writ
petition, issue an ad-interim order/direction, diercting the
Respondents to restore the names of the Petitioners at Serial
Nos. 130 and 131 of Ward No. 02 of the Panchayat Election
Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram Panchayat Motinagar, and to allow
the Petitioners to vote in the Panchayat Elections 2026 as per
their entitlement; and
D. Any other appropriate writ, order or direction which this
Hon'ble Court may deem just and proper may kindly be
passed in favour of the petitioner."
2. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties at Bar and
having perused the material available on record, this Court finds
that the present writ petition has been filed being aggrieved by
the deletion of the names of the petitioners from serial nos.130 &
131 of Ward No.2 of the Panchayat Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram
Panchayat Motinagar on the ground that they are not resident of
the area concerned.
This Court also finds that the petitioners, being aggrieved by
the aforesaid action of the respondent No.2 - Electoral
Registration Officer, (Panchayat), Sindhari (S.D.M. Sindhari),
District Balotra, have preferred an appeal under Rule 21 of the
Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Election) Rules 1994 before the District
Collector, Balotara.
In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case,
this Court deems it just and proper to dispose of the present writ
petition with a direction to the appellate authority i.e. District
Collector, Balotara to consider and decide the appeal filed by the
petitioners under Rule 21 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj
(Election) Rules, 1994 pending before it as expeditiously as
possible preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of
the receipt of a certified copy of this order, in accordance with law.
It is expected from the appellate authority i.e. District
Collector, Balotara that while deciding the appeal of the
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petitioners, he shall take into consideration the definition of
"ordinary resident" mentioned under Section 20 of the
Representation of the People Act, 1950 into consideration.
An ordinary resident in a constituency as per Section 20 of
the Act of 1950 shall mean a habitual resident of that place or a
resident as a matter of fact in regular, normal or usual course.
Section 20 of the Act of 1950 is reproduced below for ready
reference:
"20. Meaning of "ordinarily resident".--
(1) A person shall not be deemed to be ordinarily resident in a constituency on
the ground only that he owns, or is in possession of, a dwelling house therein.
(1A) A person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary
residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
(1B)A member of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State shall not during
the term of his office cease to be ordinarily resident in the constituency in the
electoral roll of which he is registered as an elector at the time of his election
as such member, by reason of his absence from that constituency in
connection with his duties as such member.
(2)A person who is a patient in any establishment maintained wholly or mainly
for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from mental illness or
mental defectiveness, or who is detained in prison or other legal custody at
any place, shall not by reason thereof be deemed to be ordinarily resident
therein.
(3)Any person having a service qualification shall be deemed to be ordinarily
resident on any date in the constituency in which, but for his having such
service qualification, he would have been ordinarily resident on that date.
(4)Any person holding any office in India declared by the President in
consultation with the Election Commission to be an office to which the
provisions of this sub-section apply, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident
on any date in the constituency in which, but for the holding of any such office
he would have been ordinarily resident on that date.
(5)The statement of any such person as is referred to in sub-section (3) or
sub-section (4) made in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed
manner, that
but for his having the service qualification or but for his holding any such
office as is referred to in sub-section (4) he would have been ordinarily
resident in a specified place on any date, shall, in the absence of evidence to
the contrary, be accepted as correct.
(6)The wife of any such person as is referred to in sub-section (3) or sub-
section (4) shall if she be ordinarily residing with such person be deemed to
be ordinarily resident on in the constituency specified by such person under
sub-section (5).
(7)If in any case a question arises as to where a person is ordinarily resident
at any relevant time, the question shall be determined with reference to all
the facts of the case and to such rules as may be made in this behalf by the
Central Government in consultation with the Election Commission.
(8)In sub-sections (3) and (5) "service qualification" means--
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(a)being a member of the armed forces of the Union; or
(b)being a member of a force to which the provisions of the Army Act, 1950
(46 of 1950), have been made applicable whether with or without
modifications; or
(c)being a member of an armed police force of a State, who is serving outside
that State; or
(d)being a person who is employed under the Government of India, in a post
outside India."
With the aforesaid direction, the present writ petition is
disposed of.
Stay petition also stands disposed of.
(KULDEEP MATHUR),J
254-himanshu/-
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