( 1 ) IN this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioners who are the voters residing within the local limits of Khanusa Gram Panchayat in Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district have challenged the action of respondent No. 1-returning officer rejecting the nomination paper of petitioner No. 1 whereby she was prevented from contesting the election from ward No. 7-J of the Khanusa Gram Panchayat held in the closing months of year 198j. Petitioner No. 1 was the sole contestant from that ward wherein only one seat was ear-marked as reserved for women. Petitioner No. 1 was not opposed by any rival female candidate. She filled in the nomination form on 27-11-1980 for contesting from the aforesaid ward on the reserved seat for women. Her nomination form came to be rejected by the returning officer by his order dated 29-11-1980 on the ground that on scrutiny of the nomination paper it was found that the candidate had not mentioned her number in the voters list. The aforesaid order below the nomination form as passed by the first respondent-returning officer rejecting the nomination paper is annexed as Annexure `a to the petition. It is obvious that