R.M. SAVANT, J.

1. Rule, in all the Petitions with the consent of the Learned Counsel for the parties made returnable forthwith and heard.

2. The Writ Jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is invoked against the identical orders all dated 18.03.2015 passed by the Collector, Solapur, by which orders the application for disqualification filed by the Respondent No. 1 in each of the above Petitions came to be allowed and resultantly, each of the Petitioners above named were held to be disqualified in terms of Section 3(1)(b) of the Maharashtra Local Authority Members Disqualification Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as “the Disqualification Act”).

3. The facts giving rise to the filing of the above Petitions can be stated thus:-

Since the facts are identical, the facts in Writ Petition No. 4261 of 2015 would be referred to for the sake of convenience. The Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 4261 of 2015 is an elected Councillor of the Pandharpur Municipal Council. The elections to the said Pandharpur Municipal Council took place in the year 2011. The Petitioner in the said Writ Petition is belonging to “Teerthkshetra Vikas Aghadi, Pandharpur” (hereinafter referred to “the said aghadi”). The said aghadi contested all the 33 seats of the Pandharpur Municipal Council. However only 18 of its candidates which include the Petitioner above named were elected as Municipal Councillors. After the elections, a meeting of the said aghadi took place on 14.12.2011 in which all the 18 Councillors were present including the above Petitioner and the Petitioners in the other Petitions. In the said meeting, one Mr. Sudhakar Dhumal was appointed as the group leader and that he was authorized to issue whip to the said 18 Councillors for the ensuing period of five years which was the term of the Municipal Council. The said decision was communicated to the Collector, Solapur, with the affidavits filed by each Councillor belonging to the said aghadi stating that they have appointed said Mr. Sudhakar Dhumal as the group leader and that his whip would be followed for the period of five years. The list of the members of the said aghadi was accordingly published in the gazette dated 18.01.2012. In the elections which took place for the post of President and Vice President thereafter the candidates of the said aghadi were elected. On the term of the incumbents to the said post of President and Vice President coming to an end, the Collector notified the election to the post of the President and the Vice President of the Municipal Council on 11.07.2014 which elections were to take place on 21.07.2014. In view of the said election, a meeting of the said aghadi was held on 15.07.2014 for deciding the candidates for the post of President and Vice President. It was decided in the said meeting that in so far as the post of President is concerned, the candidate of the said aghadi would be one Smt. Laxmi Kadam and for the post of Vice President the candidate would be one Smt. Shweta Dombe. The group leader i.e. Mr. Sudhakar Dhumal accordingly on 18.07.2014 issued the whip to all the 18 members of the said aghadi which was personally served on the Petitioners and was also published in daily “Nirbhid” on 20.07.2014 and published in daily “Pandhari Bhushan” on 21.07.2014 as also daily “Lokmat.” On the day of election i.e. on 21.07.2014 the Petitioners were once again informed as regards the whip that was issued to the said 18 members of the said aghadi. However, in the elections which took place on the said day, the Petitioners voted in favour of the candidates for the said post of President and Vice President put up by the opposition and thereby defied the whip.

4. After the elections were over a meeting of the said aghadi was held on 22.07.2014 on which day, it was unanimously resolved not to condone the act of the Petitioners in defying the whip and the Respondent No. 1 Mr. Rahul Sable was authorized to take such steps as were