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AFR

Court No. - 39

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 14093 of 2021

Petitioner :- Smt. Babita Devi

Respondent :- State of U.P. and Others

Counsel for Petitioner :- Gaurav Singh Chauhan,R.P.S. Chauhan

Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Tarun Agrawal

Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J.

Hon'ble Mrs. Sadhna Rani (Thakur),J.

1.

Learned counsel for the petitioner remained absent though the

matter has been date fixed with his consent. This is a matter arising out

of the Election of Member, Kshetra Panchayat Lalai, Ward No. 42,

Vikas Khand Hathwant, Firozabad. We have heard learned counsel for

the petitioner on 14.7.2021 on the legal issues and postponed the matter

only to obtain instructions from the State Election Commission to

ascertain the date of the declaration of the result. We, therefore, do not

deem it fit to adjourn the matter today.

The written instructions have been supplied by the learned

counsel for the respondent-State Election Commission on 14.7.2021.

Further instructions in compliance of the order dated 14.7.2021 have

also been placed before us today.

The Office is directed to upload the scanned copy of the written

instructions and the compilation of cases supplied by the learned

counsel for the respondents.

2.

Heard Sri Imran Syed learned Advocate holding brief of Sri

Tarun Agrawal learned counsel for the respondent-State Election

Commission, Sri Ajit Kumar Singh learned Additional Advocate

General assisted by Sri Sudhansh Srivastava learned Additional Chief

Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the State respondents today.

3.

Placing the above instructions before us, it is pointed out by the

learned counsel for the respondents that for the election of Member,

Kshetra Panchayat concerned, the polling was held on 26.4.2021 at two

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polling booth nos. 180 and 181. The ballot boxes of both the polling

booths were opened under the supervision of the Assistant Returning

Officer. On 2.5.2021 when the counting was made, the petitioner Smt.

Babita Devi wife of Sri Vimal Kumar had secured 169 votes at polling

booth no. 181 whereas Indrapal son of Sri Pati Ram resident of Village

Lalai, Block Hathwant got 77 votes and the third candidate Sri

Kushalpal son of Sri Hariom resident of the same village got 163 votes.

Similarly at polling booth no. 180, the petitioner Smt. Babita Devi

secured 114 votes whereas Indrapal received 305 votes and Kushalpal

95 votes. The Assistant Returning Officer had issued the certificate of

the elected/returned candidate to Smt. Babita Devi on 3.5.2021 on the

basis of the votes of one polling booth No. 181 only. After the counting

was completed, on 4.5.2021, respondent no. 7, Sri Indrapal gave a

written application raising objection about the result and sought for

further verification of the same. Upon verification of the record, it was

found that the votes cast at the polling booth no. 181 were not added in

the final preparation of the result. By adding the votes of two polling

booth nos. 180 & 181, it was found that the respondent no. 7 had

received total 382 votes which was the highest whereas the petitioner

Smt. Babita Devi was placed at serial no. 2 having received 283 votes.

The mistake committed by the Assistant Returning Officer was

corrected by the Returning Officer after issuing a notice to the

petitioner herein. The order in this regard had been passed on 4.5.2021.

The copies of the Election Return referable to Rules 50(e) and 53 of the

U.P. Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats (Election of Members)

Rules, 1994 (In short as "the Rules, 1994") in Form '43' and the

counting sheet in Form '47' as per Chapter 9 of the Guide Book for the

Panchayat Elections-2021 issued by the State Election Commission, of

both the polling booth nos. 180 and 181 prepared on 3.5.2021 have

been placed before us alongwith the written instructions to give the

details of the votes cast, ballot papers rejected and the total votes cast in

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favour of each candidate.

Today, a