MOOTHAM, J :- This is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution.

2. A general election to the Anupshahr Municipal Board will be held in the course of the next few days and the petitioner, who is at present the Junior Vice-Chairman of the Board, is desirous of becoming a candidate for the office of President. He duly filed his nomination papers, but on the 26th September last respondent No. 4 lodged an objection before the Electoral Registration Officer alleging that the petitioner was not entitled to stand as a candidate on the ground that his name was improperly included in the municipal electoral roll. A summary enquiry was held by the Electoral Registration Officer, the third respondent, who by an order of the 2nd October 1953, upheld the objection and directed that the petitioners name be removed from the municipal electoral roll. On the 6th October, 1953, the petitioners nomination paper was rejected by the Returning Officer, who is respondent No. 2, on the ground that the petitioners name did not appear in the municipal electoral roll.

3. The petitioner now comes to this Court with a three-fold prayer, for a writ in the nature of certiorari to quash the order of the Electoral Registration Officer made on the 2nd October; secondly, for a writ in the nature of mandamus to command the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer to restore his name to the municipal electoral roll; and thirdly, for a writ in the nature of mandamus to command, the Returning Officer to rescrutinise his nomination paper. Learned counsel for the petitioner concedes that unless he succeeds in obtaining the first two of these reliefs he cannot be entitled to the third.

4. It has been strongly urged before us that the petitioner is entitled to have his name restored to the municipal electoral roll. His name was ordered by the Electoral Registration Officer to be removed from that roll on the ground that he was not ordinarily resident within Ward No. 4 of Anupshahr Municipality; and the submission on behalf of the petitioner is that the Electoral Registration Officer acted wholly without jurisdiction in rejecting the nomination paper on this ground.

5. In order to understand the arguments which have been addressed to us in this case it is convenient to read the relevant parts of three sections of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916, (as amended by Act VII of 1953) and of two clauses of the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities (Preparation and Revision of Electoral Rolls) Order, 1953, an Order which it is convenient to refer to as the 1953 Order. These are Sections 12-B. Sub-Ss. (1) and (2), S. 12-C and S. 12-D, Sub-S. (1), and sub-clause (c) of clauses 8 and 9 of the 1953 Order. They read as follows :

"12-B. Electoral Roll for every ward. - (1) There shall be an electoral roll for every ward which shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of this Act under the supervision of the Director of Elections (Local Bodies).

(2) The Electoral Registration Officer shall, for purposes of preparation of the electoral rolls for the ward, adopt the Assembly rolls relatable to the area comprised in the said ward and published in the same manner prescribed, and upon its publication it shall, subject to any alteration, addition or modification made under or in accordance with this Act, be the electoral roll for the ward prepared in accordance with this Act.

12-C. Qualifications for electors : Subject to the provisions of S. 12-D, every person who is qualified to be registered in the Assembly electoral roll relatable to the area comprised in the ward or whose name is entered therein shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll of the ward.

12-D. Disqualifications for registration in an electoral roll : (1) A person shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if he is disqualified for registration in the Assembly rolls.

Clause 8. Claims to inclusion of names in the roll of a ward : Any person

(c) whose name is not included in