[2026:RJ-JD:17730]

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7941/2026

1. Manoj Kumar S/o Shri Viradha Ram, Aged About 30 Years, Resident Of Gram Vadel Nadi, Gram Panchayat Motinagar, Panchayat Samiti Sindhari, Tehsil Sindhari, District Balotra, Rajasthan.

2. Kiran Choudhary W/o Shri Manoj Kumar, Aged About 26 Years, Resident Of Gram Vadel Nadi, Gram Panchayat Motinagar, Panchayat Samiti Sindhari, Tehsil Sindhari, District Balotra, Rajasthan.

----Petitioners Versus

1. The District Collector, Balotra, District Balotra, Rajasthan.

2. The Electoral Registration Officer, (Panchayat), Sindhari (S.d.m. Sindhari), District Balotra, Rajasthan.

----Respondents For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Aidan Choudhary For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sanjay Raj Paliwal, GC.

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KULDEEP MATHUR

Order

16/04/2026 By way of filing the present writ petition, the petitioners have prayed for the following reliefs:

“It is, therefore, humbly and respectfully prayed on behalf of the petitioner that this writ petition of the petitioner may kindly be allowed and: -

A. Issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, quashing and setting aside the Impugned Order dated 20.02.2026 (Annex.16) passed by Respondent No. 2, directing deletion of the names of the Petitioners from Serial Nos. 130 and 131 of Ward No. 02 of the Panchayat Election Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram Panchayat Motinagar;

B. Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus, directing Respondent No.2 (District Collector, Balotra) to decide the Appeal filed by the Petitioners expeditiously,;

C. Pending hearing and final disposal of the present writ petition, issue an ad-interim order/direction, diercting the Respondents to restore the names of the Petitioners at Serial Nos. 130 and 131 of Ward No. 02 of the Panchayat Election Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram Panchayat Motinagar, and to allow the Petitioners to vote in the Panchayat Elections 2026 as per their entitlement; and D. Any other appropriate writ, order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem just and proper may kindly be passed in favour of the petitioner.”

2. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties at Bar and having perused the material available on record, this Court finds that the present writ petition has been filed being aggrieved by the deletion of the names of the petitioners from serial nos.130 & 131 of Ward No.2 of the Panchayat Electoral Roll 2026 of Gram Panchayat Motinagar on the ground that they are not resident of the area concerned.

This Court also finds that the petitioners, being aggrieved by the aforesaid action of the respondent No.2 - Electoral Registration Officer, (Panchayat), Sindhari (S.D.M. Sindhari), District Balotra, have preferred an appeal under Rule 21 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Election) Rules 1994 before the District Collector, Balotara.

In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, this Court deems it just and proper to dispose of the present writ petition with a direction to the appellate authority i.e. District Collector, Balotara to consider and decide the appeal filed by the petitioners under Rule 21 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Election) Rules, 1994 pending before it as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of the receipt of a certified copy of this order, in accordance with law.

It is expected from the appellate authority i.e. District Collector, Balotara that while deciding the appeal of the petitioners, he shall take into consideration the definition of “ordinary resident” mentioned under Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 into consideration.

An ordinary resident in a constituency as per Section 20 of the Act of 1950 shall mean a habitual resident of that place or a resident as a matter of fact in regular, normal or usual course.

Section 20 of the Act of 1950 is reproduced below for ready reference:

“20. Meaning of “ordinarily resid