The court established the principle that election results in constituencies with reserved seats must be declared in a specific order, ensuring that candidates with the highest votes in each reserved category are declared elected, in accordance with the election rules.

( 1 ) IN this writ appeal, an interesting question of law relating to the manner in which the results of an election to a mandal panchayat should be declared in respect of a triple member constituency in which one seat is reserved for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe and one seat is reserved for women belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe and the third is the general seat.

( 2 ) THE mandal panchayat is a localgovernment constituted under the Karnataka zilla parishads, taluk panchayat samithis, mandal panchayats and nyaya panchayats Act, 1983 ('the act' for short ). Section 4 of the act provides for declaration of mandal and establishment of mandal panchayats. Section 5 provides Constitution of mandal panchayat. The relevant portion of sub-sections (1), (2) and (4) of Section 5 reads thus : " (1) the mandal panchayat shall consist of such number of elected members as may be notified from time to time by the government, at the rate of one member for every four hundred population or part thereof of the mandal as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures are published; (2) such number of seats, which shall as nearly as may be twenty-five per cent of the total number of the members of the mandal panchayats shall be reserved for women in every mandal panchayat; provided that out of the seats so reserved one seat shall be reserved for a woman belonging to the scheduled caste or the scheduled tribes. (3) seats shall be reserved in a mandal panchayat for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes the number of such seats bearing as nearly as may be the same proportion to the total number of seats in the mandal panchayat as the population of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the mandal bears to the total population of the mandal : provided that such reservation shall not be less than eighteen per cent of the total number of seats in the mandal panchayat: provided further that nothing contained in this Section shall be deemed to prevent a woman or a member of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for whom seats have been reserved i,n a mandal panchayat from standing for election to any non-reserved seat in such mandal panchayat. " according to sub-section (2), 25 per cent of the seats are required to be reserved for women and out of this according to proviso to sub Section (2) one seat is required to be reserved for women belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Sub-section (4) requires that seats should be reserved in favour of persons belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in proportion to their population.

( 3 ) IN accordance with the Provisionsof the Act, the mandal panchayat for toolahalli group village in kudligi taluk, bellary district was constituted. There is no dispute that in respect of constituency No. 1 of mandal panchayat one seat was reserved for persons belonging to S. C. and s. t. and one seat was reserved for women and the third seat was a general seat. At the election, two persons filed nominations for the general seat and four persons belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes filed nominations and out of them two were women. After the election was held, and the votes were counted, it was found that the six candidates had secured votes as follows:

Name of the Category Votes Contestant secured

B2.

Erappa

SC & ST

248

A1.

Basappa

Siddanahalli,

appellant-

Respondent-4.

SC & ST

412

B4.

Kotramma, Petitioner -Respondent-1.

SC & ST

250

A3.

H. Basamma

SC & ST

413

A5.

Kuberagowda

General (non-reserved)

413

B6.

Uttangi Channa basappa

General

253

( 4 ) THE returning officer declared basappa siddanhalli who had secured 412 votes for the seat reserved for S. C. and st. And h. Basamma for the seat reserved for women and kubera gowda for the general seat. The legality of the declaration was questioned by kotramma and another voter before this court in the writ petition.

( 5 ) THE contention of the writ petitioners' was thatin declaring the re