The central legal point established in the judgment is that the improper acceptance of nomination papers under the wrong category, leading to a material effect on the election result, constitutes valid grounds for setting aside the election under Section 89 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994.

Nirmaljit Kaur, J.

1. The election petition was filed by respondent No. 1- Jasbir Kaur, challenging the election of the appellant Kamaljit Kaur before the Election Tribunal under Section 76 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994. The Election Tribunal set aside the election of the appellant as Member Panchayat of Village Soos, Tehsil and District Hoshiarpur. 2, facts in short are that respondent Jasbir Kaur and the appellant Kamaljit Kaur were the candidates for the post of General Lady Panch Category. Both the appellant and respondent filed their nomination papers for the post of General Lady Panch Category. Nomination papers of the respondent were found to be correct and after due scrutiny, the election symbol of bus was allotted to the appellant Kamaljit Kaur. The respondent was allotted the symbol ofCock. The said election was held on 26.05.2008. However, on 25.05.2008, prior to the date of polling, the respondent was surprised to see that her name was not mentioned in the category of lady Panch General on the list which was pasted outside the polling booth. Instead, her name was shown under the category of General and was kept out from the consideration zone against the post of Woman General Panch. By keeping the respondent out of this category, appellant Kamaljit Kaur was the only candidate left. However, she was declared elected unopposed. Immediately, Jasbir Kaur approached the District Election Officer. Hoshiarpur and made a complaint in writing that Kamaljit Kaur had been wrongly declared elected as unopposed. The District Election Officer, Hoshiarpur, forwarded the complaint to Sub Divisional Magistrate, Hoshiarpur who submitted his report to the District Education Officer. The District Education Officer further forwarded the letter to the State Election Commission for postponement of the election. The Sub Divisional Magistrate, Hoshiarpur, as well as, the District Education Officer admitted in their report that there was a lapse on the part of the Returning Off and and the name of the respondent Jasbir Kaur was erroneously not mentioned in the category of Lady Panch General and Kamaljit Kaur was wrongly declared elected. However, the State Election Commission refused to reschedule the election. Accordingly, respondent Jasbir Kaur filed Civil Writ Petition before this Court. The said writ petition was disposed of with a direction to make a representation to the Election Commission. The Election Commission referred the matterto the Election Tribunal, Hoshiarpur, for decision. There after, the Election Petition was filed.

2. The said Election Petition was finally allowed by the Election Tribunal, Earidkot, vide order dated 04.1 1.2008 and thereafter, the elections were ordered for the post reserved for Woman General Panch with the following observations :-

"Apart from this from the perusal of nomination letter Ex.P-9, the validity of the claim of the petitioner is increased because the petitioner has clearly mentioned in the nomination forms in the column of name, the words Punch Lady General, there is no reason that the Returning Officer or any other senior officer could change the category of the nomination letters against her wish. As per report of the Returning Officer he has accepted that this mistake has been committed due to rush of work. Such mistake by a Returning Officer is also a common matter because during the Panchayati Elections, a Returning Officer has to work for the Panchayats of a lot of villages and the possibility of mistake could not be ruled out. Rather the Returning Officer in his report sent to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Hoshiarpur has recommended that the name of Jasbir Kaur should be considered for Woman General Panch. In the light of the above circumstances this Court has come to conclusion that the petitioner filed her nomination form against the post of Woman General Panch only. Due to the mistake of the Returning Officer, these nomination forms were considered for