JUDGMENT :

S.K.Mishra, J.

The petitioners are nine councillors representing different wards of the Keonjhargarh Municipal Council (KMC). They have been declared disqualified by the State Election Commission i.e. opposite party no.2 in Complaint Case No.1 of 2016 filed by the former Chairperson of Keonjhargarh Municipality i.e. opposite party no.5, namely, Mina Majhi under the provision of Section 46-A(1)(b) of the Odisha Municipality Act, 1950 as amended by the Odisha Municipal Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2015 as per order dated 19.02.2016. The election to Keonjhargarh Municipality was held on 19.09.2013 pursuant to notification issued by the State Election Commission on 12.08.2013. The municipal council consists of 21 wards. All these petitioners contested the municipality election under the aegis and as candidates for the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), hereinafter, referred to as the “BJD” for brevity. On 30.09.2013, election to the Chairperson of the Municipality was held and opposite party no.5 was elected as the Chairperson of the Municipality as 15 votes were cast in her favour. It is stated that the opposite party no.5 started involving monopolistic activity and for her alleged arbitrary and unbearable action, the petitioners on 09.11.2015 convened a special meeting under the Chairmanship of one Dilip Behera, the councillor of Ward No.13 of the KMC, where it was resolved that the councillors should request the Collector-cum-District Magistrate, Keonjhar to give protection to the councillors till consideration of motion of No Confidence against the Chairperson.

Pursuant to such resolution, all the petitioners approached the opposite party no.3-Collector-Cum-District Magistrate, Keonjhar on 12.11.2015 and served the notice ‘No Confidence Motion’ along with copy of the resolution, wherein they have categorically mentioned that the meeting may be fixed at an early date giving only three days time to avoid anticipated hazardous situation.

After receiving the notice ‘No Confidence Motion’, the opposite party no.5 allegedly tried her level best to influence the petitioners and other councillors through many ways since she belongs to an influenced political party and manage to influence local administration including the police. The petitioners also plead that they were receiving threatening calls on their mobiles. Though the petitioners on several occasions conveyed the same to the local administration and police, the authorities did not protect the petitioners. Finding no way, the petitioners approached the Court by filing an application under Article 226 of the Constitution registered as W.P.(C) No.20993/2015. This Court disposed of the aforesaid writ petition directing the District Administration to provide adequate protection to the petitioners.

On 21.11.2015, the opposite party no.3 notified the special meeting of the council for considering “No Confidence Motion” fixing date to 28.12.2015.

The petitioners plead that they have contested the election and were returned as councillors under the panel of BJD. They were dissatisfied with the party activity and have submitted their resignations in a phased manner by sending letters to the President of the aforesaid party. Annexure4 series are the resignation letters. However, in course of hearing, Mr. A.P. Bose, learned counsel for the petitioners did not give much importance on this aspect of the case. While the No Confidence Motion was pending for consideration by the council, the ruling party allegedly in order to get over the No Confidence Motion, brought an amendment to the Odisha Municipal Act i.e. Odisha Municipal Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2015 by incorporating the clause of disqualification. The Act was notified on 18.12.2015 and came into force on 19.12.2015. The draft rules were prepared and notified on 30.12.2015. It is also stated that the said notification containing the rules was published in the Extraordinary Gazette of the State on 09.01.2016.

2. Thereafter, the pet