AKIL ABDUL HAMID KURESHI, J.

1. The petitioner has challenged the judgment dated 9th June, 2017 passed by the learned Principal Civil Judge & J.M.F.C., Borsad in Election Petition No. 1 of 2017 by which the petitioner's election petition came to be dismissed.

2. Brief facts are as under:

2.1. Election for the post of Sarpanch of Virsad Gram Panchayat was conducted by the State Election Commission in the month of December, 2016 in accordance with the provisions contained in the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993 ("the Act" for short) and the rules made there under. The petitioner and the respondent No. 2 herein were the only two candidates in the fray. Polling took place on 27th December, 2016 and the counting of votes was conducted on 29th December, 2016. During the counting, petitioner had raised multiple disputes with the Election Officer and filed as many as four applications raising objections. Yet, another application was filed before the Election Officer, after counting of the votes was over, but before declaration of result of the election. All such applications were rejected by the Election Officer. The result was declared in the late night of 29th December, 2016 and early