D. REDDEPPA REDDI, J.

( 1 ) THESE two revision petitions are directed against the common order dt. 1-9-1997 of the Election Tribunal (District Munsif), Atmakur, Mahaboobnagar district, constituted under the A. P. Panchayat Raj (Election Tribunals in respect of Gram Panchayats, Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads) rules, 1995 (for short the Election Tribunals Rules) made in OP Nos. 7 and 4 of 1995 setting aside the election of one Sri Y. Venkata Reddy as Sarpanch of Kalwal Gram Panchayat of Narva Mandal and declaring one Sri V. Prathap reddy as duly elected Sarpanch of the said Gram Panchayat.

( 2 ) THE facts that led to the filing of these petitions as set out in the pleadingsand borne out by evidence on record may be stated thus: Election to the office of Sarpanch of Kalwal Gram Panchayat was held on 3-7-1995. There was contest for the same between Sri Y. Venkata Reddy (hereinafter referred to as" the petitioner) and Sri V. Pratap Reddy (hereinafter referred to as "the contesting respondent" ). Sri Venkata Swamy, Teacher, M. P. Narva Mandal was the Election Officer. Polling was held from 7 a. m. to 1 p. m. On the same day counting was taken up from 2 p. m. onwards and concluded by 4 p. m. During the counting, it was found that 948 votes were polled. Of them, Sri venkata Reddy secured 428 votes and Sri Prathap Reddy 431 votes. 89 votes were declared as invalid votes. The Election Officer prepared Form Nos. 16 and 17. The petitioner submitted a petition for recounting of votes. The Election officer recounted the votes, but found no change. However, he could not announce the results in view of the orders of this Court staying the declaration of election results. Meanwhile, the State Election Commissioner appointed under Art. 243-K of the Constitution of India issued a notification no. 531/sec/b/95-3 dt. 26-7-1995 setting out grounds for recount. One of the grounds stipulates that recounting should be done when the margin of victory was less than 1% of the total polled votes. Sometime thereafter orders staying the results were vacated and the State Election Commissioner was permitted to declare the results of all elections to the offices of Sarpanch etc. , Thereupon, as per the guidelines issued by the State Election commissioner in the notification dt. 26-7-1995 one Sri D. Basava Raj, Mandal Educational Officer, narva Mandal, conducted recounting. In the course of recounting, it was found that 949 votes were polled. The petitioner secu red 430 votes and the contesting respondent 426 votes. 93 votes were rejected as invalid votes. Thereupon, the petitioner was declared elected as Sarpanch of Kalwal Grampanchayat. Questioning the said election, O. P. Nos. 7/95 and 4/95 were filed, the former by the contesting respondent who contested the election and the latter by sri K. Laxman Rao, a voter of Kalwal Grampanchayat. These petitions were resisted by the petitioner by filing a detailed counter separately in each petition. There was an order of this Court in C. R. P. No. 75/97 to club both the petitions and dispose of them together. Accordingly, they were clubbed. Evidence was recorded in O. P. No. 7/95 and the same was treated as evidence in O. P. No. 4/95. The petitioner in O. P. No. 7/95 examined himself as P. W. I. One sri Maheswara Reddy was examined as P. W. 2. Exs. A-1 and A-2 were marked through them. The petitioner, who was elected during recount was examined as R. W. I. Also R. Ws. 2 to 6 were examined and Exs. B-1 and B-2 were marked on behalf of R. W. 1. The Election Tribunal, though failed to frame issues with reference to the pleadings, formulated the following point for consideration: whether the recounting of votes conducted on 21-10-1995 was in accordance with the A. P. Panchayat Raj (Conduct of Elections) rules, 1994 (for short the Election Rules)? it answered the point in favour of the contesting respondent mainly on the ground that there was no application by or on behalf of the petitioner for recounting of votes

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