The main legal point established in the judgment is that a person must be in the final register of voters to be qualified for election as a Commissioner, and the omission of the candidate's name from the register would disqualify them from being elected.

JUDGMENT

1. The plaintiff was a candidate for election as a Municipal Commissioner in one of the Wards of the Assansole Municipality. The election was held on the 4th November, 1922. The largest number of votes were secured by Mr. Hari Das Goswami, the pro -forma defendant No. 2, next in order was the plaintiff, then the defendant No. 1 and last, in order, was another gentleman. There were two vacancies, and Mr. Goswami and (he defendant No. 1 were declared duly elected. The plaintiff then instituted this suit for a declaration that the election of defendant No. 1 was not legal but void and that he, the plaintiff is a duly elected Municipal Commissioner. The suit was decreed by the trial Court and that decree has been affirmed on as appeal preferred by defendant No. 1. Defendant No. 1 has preferred this appeal.

2. The first ground urged on behalf of the appellant is that the Courts below have, erred in holding that his election was not. valid. The Courts below held that the election of the appellant was void as his I name did not appear on the voters' list. It is urged that the appellant possesses the requisite qualifications and chat the omission of his name in the voters' list cannot deprive him of his status to vote or stand as a candidate, and it is a matter which is purely one of form and not of substance. For this argument reliance has been placed upon the decision in In re Corkhill 22 C. 717 : 11 Ind. Dec. 476. That was a case under the Calcutta Municipal Consolidation Act (II B.C. of 1888) and the Rules issued by the Local Government u/s 19 of the Act. In that case the Court construed the different sections of the Act dealing with matters relating to election and found, that as regards persons qualified to vote, there was nothing specific in the Act which prevented or disentitled a person who was qualified to vote u/s 8 from exercising his right in the event of his name not appearing in the revised list of voters, that the only prohibition of the nature which existed was that to be found in the Rules issued by the Local Government u/s 19, but at the same time, there was no similar prohibition to be found in the rules which would disentitle or disqualify a person qualified to vote u/s 8 from exercising his right of either becoming a candidate or proposing or approving the candidature of some other person. The wording of the sections of Act II (B.C. of 1888) or the Rules referred to above are not the same as those of the relevant sections of the Bengal Municipal Act as it stands at present, or the Bengal Municipal Election Rules of 1896 under which the election in the present case was held. Section 15 of the Act imposes upon the Local Government the duty of laying down rules not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act for the conduct of elections and relating to the qualifications required to entitle any person to vote at an election and embodies in it a proviso specifying; the condition which would entitle a person to vote at the election. Rule 2 while laying down the qualifications of voters repeats and enlarges the provisions of Section 15 and makes it a condition of eligibility to vote that the person has been duly registered as provided in Rules 4 to 12, Rule 11 lays down that the register prepared and amended in conformity with the earlier rules shall be deemed to be the final register of voters entitled to vote whether at a general election or at any bye-election. Rule 13 in laying down the qualifications of candidates says that any person qualified to vote under the rules and not disqualified u/s 57 of the Act shall be qualified to be elected as a Commissioner. It is noticeable that Rule 13 says 'any person qualified to vote under these rules', while Rules 11 and 12 say 'persons entered in the final register are entitled to vote.' From this a plausible argument has been advanced that a person who is qualified to vote, that is to say, possesses the requisite qualifications of a voter, is qualified to be elected