A.M. Shaffique, J.

Petitioners are voters of Peerumedu Assembly Constituency during the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections held on 16th May 2016. They challenge the election of first respondent, inter alia contending that the Returning Officer failed to obtain the signatures of the candidates or their agents in Part II of Form No. 17C (hereinafter referred as 'Form 17C') and further contending that there had been certain mistakes in the tabulation sheets, and the corrections were not properly countersigned. Though a contention was urged alleging that the returning officer should have rejected the nomination since there was non-compliance of the statutory requirement, the said contention was later withdrawn.

2. The short facts involved in the Election Petition reads as under:-

The election was held on 16th May 2016 and the election results were published on 19th May 2016. In respect of Peerumedu Assembly constituency, the first respondent was declared elected for a margin of 314 votes over the second respondent. Respondents 2 to 7 were the other candidates.

3. The polling in the above constituency was conducted by using Electronic Voting Machines (for short 'EVM'). It is al