ORDER

1. This appeal by way of special leave arises out of the following facts:

2. On 6th March, 1995 Mandal elections were to be held in village Gadiparthivaripalem. Two of the candidates contesting the election were the deceased Soodidela Satyanarayana Reddy and Mandap Venkateswarlu, one of the accused (A.6).

3. At about 7.00 a.m. the deceased was standing along with PW.1 his nephew, Soodidela Bapireddy, in front of the polling station, when all the accused, 20 in number, armed with lethal weapons such as axes, knives, sticks and stones attacked him. A.1 Kotesswara caught hold of the deceased by his hair and gave two blows with a stone on his forehead and also stabbed him with a knife on his chest, A.2 Hanumantha Rao and A.3 Krishniah who were both armed with axes caused injuries on the back of the head of the deceased whereafter A.1 again stabbed the deceased on his shoulder. On receipt of the injuries the deceased fell to the ground. The accident was witnessed by Pw.1 and in addition by PW.5- Pambha Soubhagyamma, a vegetable hawker. PW.1 raised an alarm whereupon PW.6 and PW.7, Soodidela Subbamma and Soodidela Vijaylakshmi, rushed and found that the victim was bleeding from ser