Wanchoo, C.J.—This is an application by Dalelsingh under Art. 226 of the Constitution challenging the holding of a by-election for the office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of Samarthali on the ground that the seat of the applicant, who had been elected Sarpanch in December, 1955, had become vacant.

2. The case of applicant is briefly this. He was elected Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat of Samarthali in December, 1955. The result of the election was notified in accordance with section 14 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Act, 1953 (Act No.XXI of 193) (hereinafter called the Act) on the 16th of June, 1956. The applicant says that thereafter he went to the Tehsildar to take the oath of office, as required by sec. 15 of the Act. He was then told that his seat had become vacant under sec. 17 (2) of the Act and a by -election had been ordered to be held in August: 1956. Consequently, the applicant made the present application challenging the holding of the by election on the ground that his seat had become vacant.

3. The main ground on which the applicant contends that his seat had not become vacant is that the Panchayat can only come into being after the notification under sec. 14 has been issued

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