B. SUBHASHAN REDDY, J.

( 1 ) THE decision of the State Election Commission dated 17-8-2001 directing the Election Officer, Giddalur Gram Panchayat to countermand the poll held on 17-8-2001 to elect the Sarpanch and 4th Ward to Gram Panchayat Giddalur is impugned in this writ petition on various grounds.

( 2 ) BEFORE adverting to the question as to whether the impugned decision suffers from any legal or constitutional infirmities, a few relevant facts may have to be noticed.

( 3 ) THE petitioner is one of the contesting candidates for the office of the Sarpanch of Giddalur Gram Panchayat. According to the schedule, the poll was to be held on 17-8-2001 between 7 a. m. and 1 p. m. The first respondent herein has been appointed as Election Officer Stage-II to conduct elections for the office of the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Giddalur, Prakasam District. The poll commenced at 7 a. m. on 17-8-2001 as per the schedule and completed by 1 p. m. in all the 40 polling stations. After completion of formalities, the ballot boxes were transported to the counting centre. The counting process as scheduled has to commence at 2 p. m.

( 4 ) IT is required to notice that one Y. Satyanarayana, one of the contesting candidates died in the early houres of 17-8-2001. The State Election Commission received a telephone call informing the Secretary of the State Election Commission that the said Satyanarayana seeking election to the office of the Sarpanch died in the night, but the poll was going on as usually. The Secretary contacted the Collector, Prakasham District to ascertain the facts. The Collector confirmed that he too received information about the death of a contesting candidate at 8-30 a. m. and by that time the polling has already been commenced. The Secretary of the State Election Commission contacted the observer and requested him to proceed to Giddalur and ascertain the facts. The Observer visited the village and enquired into the matter and reported from Giddalur about the death of one of the contesting candidates around 6-15 a. m. on 17-8-2001. In the meanwhile, the Collector, Prakasham District also confirmed the said fact as reported by the observer. The Collector further reported that by the time the news of death of another contesting candidate was received it was already 7 a. m. and there were 45 polling stations and it was not feasible for the Election Officer to countermand the poll and secind intimation to all the 45 polling stations before 7 a. m. In the circumstances, the polling has been continued.

( 5 ) THE State Election Commission based on the report of the observer and the information of the District Collector passed the impugned order directing the Election Officer, Giddalur Gram Panchayat to countermand the poll under Rule 13 of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 1994 (for short the Conduct of Election Rules ) and ignore the polling process that was conducted for the post of Sarpanch and 4th Ward Member and to await the further orders from the State Election Commission. That is how the counting of votes had not begun even after completion of poll.

( 6 ) IT is the case of the petitioner that it is clearly evident from the record available that the Election Officer and others have received the information about the death of one of the contesting candidates only after completion of the polls. The petitioner made available a copy of the fax message given by the Mandal Revenue Officer on 17-8-2001 at 15-02 hours after the poll was completed to the Election Observer. The fax message sent by the first respondent to the Election Observer was at about 16. 50 hours and the fax message sent by the Mandal Parishad Development Officer was at 16. 54 hours. It is submitted that all the above fax messages are at variance with each other. In nutshell, it is the case of the petitioner that there has been no report whatsoever about the death of one of the contesting candidates before the commencement of the pol

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