gst 1 wp9061.10.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION. WRIT PETITION NO. 9061 OF 2010. Tammaraya Baswantrai Patil.... ..... ..... ...... Petitioner. V/s The State of Maharashtra & Ors. .... .... ..... Respondents. Mr.S.G.Deshmukh i/by Mr.Abhijeet Kandarkar, Adv. For the petitioner. Mr.A.B.Vagyani, AGP for the respondent Nos. 1 to 3. CORAM: B.H.MARLAPALLE AND U.D. SALVI, JJ. 10th December, 2010. PC: 1. We have heard Mr.Deshmukh, the learned advocate for the petitioner. On 6.6.2010 elections for the Village Panchayat Utagi, taluka Jat, District Sangli were held and the petitioner was one of the contesting candidates and was unsuccessful in the said elections. He claims that on 13.8.08 news was pubished in a newspaper by name “Vijay Karnataka” stating that the voting machines were not 100% safe and they could be tampered with. 2. On the basis of his personal perceptions of the said news, he decided to come to this Court. He states that based on the statistics of polling in different wards with the figures of the votes available and votes cast would suggest that the machines automatically got locked and votes were invalidated. He prays for a writ or direction in the nature of mandamus for investigation into the working of voting machines used in the said elections from the expert software engineers, directing an investigation of the memory cards of the voting machines and setting aside the elections so held on 27.6.2010. He also prays gst 2 wp9061.10.sxw for directions to hold fresh elections of Village Panchayat Utagi. 3. As per Article 243-O of the Constitution of India, no election to any Panchayat shall be called in question except by an Election Petition presented to such authority and in such manner as provided for by or under any law made by the Legislature of a State. Section 15 of the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958 provides for a remedy of an Election Petition against the elections of member of a Panchayat and the Election Petition is required to be filed within 15 days after the declaration of results, whereas Section 15A inserted by Maharashtra Act 21 of 1994 states that no election to any Panchayat shall be called in question except in accordance with the provisions of Section 15 and no Court other than the Judge referred to in that section shall entertain any dispute in respect of such elections. 4. If during the process of elections held on 27.6.10 the petitioner was convinced that the voting machines were defective or they could be tampered with and on declaration of results he was satisfied that such defects or tampering, has affected the counting of votes, nothing stopped him from moving an Election Petition within 15 days from the declaration of results of the election under Section 15 of the Bombay Village Panchayats Act and in such a petition, he could have filed an application for bringing the voting machines before the Court and referring to expert’s opinion, if the law so permitted. What could be agitated before an Authority by filing an election petition, is sought to be placed before us. Such a petition cannot be entertained under Article 226 of the Constitution and moreso, on the basis of the provisions of Article 243-O of the Constitution and the remedy of an election petition under the Act. 5. Hence the Petition is rejected as not maintainable. (U.D. SALVI, J.) (B.H.MARLAPALLE, J.)