The President of a Panchayat Board is entitled to vote at the election of a Vice-President.

( 1 ) JUDGMENT of the Court was delivered by the Hon ble The Chief Justice. This is a petition under Art. 226 t the Constitution of India to quash the order of the Election Commissioner, Gudivada, setting aside the election of the petitioner as Vice-President of the Ventrapragada Panchayat. Ventrapragada Panchayat Board consists of a President and 8 members. Elections to the panchayat were held on 27-2-1953. One Chelsani Kutumba Rao was elected as President and the petitioner, the 1st respondent and six others were elected as members. The President convened a meeting of the panchayat on 7-9-1953 for the election of a Vice-President. The petitioner and the 1st respondent competed for the office. All the members of the Panchayat including the President, voted at the meeting. The petitioner secured 5 votes and the 1st respondent four votes and petitioner was duly declared elected as Vice-President. The defeated candidate i. e. the 1st respondent filed an election petition, before the Election Commissioner to set aside the Election on the ground that the president had no right to vote at the election meeting and, therefore, if his vote was excluded, there would have been equality of votes atd, if lots were drawn, he might have been successful. The Election Commissioner accepted his contention and set aside the election. The present writ is filed to quash that order. Learned Counsel for the petitioner contends that-the President of a panchayat Board is a member of that Board and is, therefore, entitled to vote at all meetings including that held for the election of a Vice-President, whereas learned Counsel for the 1st respondent contends that, under the Madras Village Panchayats Act, a clear distinction is maintained between an ordinary meeting and a meeting specially convened for the election of Vice-Ptesident that the President can exercise only the powers conferred on him under the provisions of the Act and the rules framed thereunder in regard to the latter meeting and that those provisions do not entitle him to vote. The question raised falls to be decided on the interpretation of the relevant-provisions of the Act and the rules framed thereunder. Section 2 (16): panchayat means the body constituted for the local administrtion of a village under this Act. Section 2 (14): member means a member of a panchayat. Section 21 (7): the president shall be an ex-officio member of the panchayat and shall be entitled to vote at meetings of the panchayat. Section 6 (1): the total number of members of a panchayat exclusive of its president shall be notified by the Inspector in accordance with such scale as may be prescribed with reference to population. Section 7: the members of the panchayat shall be elected in such manner as may be prescribed. Under Section 20 of the Act, there shall be a President and a Vice-President for every panchayat and, under Section 21, the president shall be elected by the persons whose names appear in the electoral roll for the panchayat, from among themselves. The total number of members of the panchayat, exclusive of the president, would be notified by the Inspector. The members would be elected from different wards into which the panchayat is divided. The President is also an ex-officio member of the panchayat and is entitled to vote at the meetings of the panchayat. A member has been defined as a member of the Panchayat and, therefore, the president is a member of the panchayat. It follows that, if the election of the Vice-President is held at a meeting, the President certainly, as a member of the Panchayat, is entired to vote at that meeting. Section 22 provides that the Vice-President shall be elected by the Panchayat from among its members. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 112 of the Act, the Government made rules for the election of Vice-President of Panchayats. Rule 1 says that the election of a Vice-President of a Panchayat shall be held in the office of the Panchayat at a meeting special
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