( 1 ) ALL these petitions raise certain common questions of law and challenge deletion of the petitioners names from the final lists of voters in different constituencies for elections to Agricultural Produce Market Committee, visnagar (hereafter referred to as "the A. P. M. C. " ). At the joint request of the learned counsels for all the parties, the petitions are, therefore, heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

( 2 ) BEFORE examining the grievance of the petitioners and the defences raised by the respondents, it is necessary to have a look at certain provisions of the Gujarat agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1963 ("the Act" for brevity) and the Gujarat agricultural Produce Markets Rules, 1965 ("the Rules" for brevity ). Section 2 of the Act contains definitions some of which read as under : (i) "agricultural produce means all produce, whether processed or not, of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry, specified in the Schedule. (v) "co-operative marketing society" means a society registered or deemed to be registered as such under the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (Guj. X of 1962), and engaged in the business of buyi