1. By these petitions filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner is challenging the order of respondent no.2 / Election Officer, accepting nomination paper of respective respondent no.4 for the purposes of general election of respondent no.3 / Cooperative Society. It is not in dispute that the said Society is registered under the provisions of Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 (For short, hereinafter referred to as "Act of 1960"). The respondent no.1 in both the matters is the State of Maharashtra through its Secretary in Cooperation and Textile Department. The respondent no.4 in Writ Petition No. 251/2011 has submitted her nomination for post reserved for woman, while respondent no.4 in Writ Petition No. 257/2011 is contesting election for open post.

2. Looking to the nature of controversy and earlier orders passed, the respective Counsel have been heard finally by making Rule returnable forthwith.

3. Advocate, Shri D.J. Choudhari, appearing for the petitioner, has stated that respondent no.3 is a Notified Society and scrutiny of nomination papers has been conducted on 10-1-2011. In that scrutiny, petitioner raised objection