The accused is the petitioner herein. The petitioner was prosecuted on a private complaint for an offence under sections 171(d) and 171(f), Indian Penal Code. The case is that on the date of the Panchayat Board election in Uthamapalayam the accused voted twice giving his own name as P. Mohamed Rowther giving his voter number as 497 and also his own name with voter number 423 in two wards, viz., wards Nos. 10 and 9 respectively. A preliminary objection was taken to the hearing of the case on the ground that under rule 27(6) of the Rules framed under section 112(2)(i) of the Village Panchayats Act, 1950, the sanction of the District Magistrate must have been obtained, and in the absence of such sanction the Court had no jurisdiction to proceed with the case. Rule 27, clause (6) is as follows:

“The Election Officer shall immediately make such investigation as may be necessary and shall take steps to prosecute the person or persons whom he believes to be guilty of the offence of personation after obtaining the previous sanction, required by section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, such sanction being obtained from the District Magistrate concerned.”

It is conceded that