S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. Issues of seminal significance reaching out to the fundamental case of the republic and the democratic process itself have come to the fore in this set of 12 connected writ petitions referred for an authoritative decision to the Full Bench. These deserve a somewhat precise formulation which might well be done at the very outset in the terms following :-

(1) Does the equality clause of Article 14 of the Constitution equally mandates an equality of franchise for the citizen in the context of elections generally and in particular with regard to the elections at the grass root level of village Panchayats ?

(2) Does the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race or caste enshrined in Article 15(1) permeates the electoral rights of franchise as well ?

(3) Is the larger constitutional scheme indicative of a clear prohibition against all discrimination either for or against any citizen in the field of franchise and electoral rights ?

(4) Would clause (1) of Article 15 warrant or protect State Legislation discriminating in favour of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the field of franchise rights to Village Panchayats ?

(5) Assuming entirely for th