JUDGMENT

Sethi, J.-Leave granted.

2. Election process was scuttled and the democratic values throttled by a bureaucrat who happened to be Principal Secretary of the Local Government Department (hereinafter referred to as "the said Secretary") of the State of Punjab at the relevant time. Flouting all norms, violating statutory provisions and showing scant respect to the principles of law, the said Secretary deprived respondent No. 1, the elected representative of the people, to perform his duties firstly as Member and then as the President of the Municipality, obviously to oblige his political opponents who incidentally happened to belong to the ruling parties (Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP) in the State of Punjab. Inaction attributable to the said Secretary in performance of his statutory obligations and instead ill-action taken by him is a matter of concern not only for the respondent No. 1 but all those who believes in the rule of law and the preservance, development and conservation of democratic institutions with their values in the country. There is no gainsaying that free, fair, fearless and impartial elections are guarantee of a democratic polity. For conducting, holding and co