Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 Date of decision: 21st December, 2009 Rup Chand and another .......Petitioners Versus Kanwal Singh and another ........Respondents Before: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. Kulvir Narwal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Sanjay Mittal, Advocate for the respondents. Sabina, J. Election for the post of Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat Lakria, was held on 23.03.2005. Four persons including the petitioners filed nomination papers. Last date for withdrawal of nomination was 22.03.2005. Petitioners withdrew their nominations on 22.03.2005. Petitioners affixed their signatures/thumb impressions in the relevant register, maintained by the returning officer. Consequently, respondent no.1 was declared Sarpanch of Village Lakria as elected unopposed. Aggrieved by the same, petitioners filed the suit, challenging the election of the respondent. Vide impugned Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 2 judgment, the suit of the petitioners was dismissed. Hence, the present revision petition. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the opinion that the instant petition is devoid of any merit and deserves dismissal. The petitioners had challenged the factum of declaration of the respondent having been declared elected as unopposed Sarpanch of Village Lakria on the ground that they had been kidnapped by the respondent and were forced to withdraw their nomination papers. FIR NO.34, dated 22.03.2005, under Sections 365/342/34 of the Indian Penal Code, was registered at Police Station Beri (hereinafter referred to as the “FIR”). The respondent had confessed his guilt in the Gram Sabha. However, the petitioners failed to lead any cogent evidence in support of their pleas and thus, failed to prove their case. FIR was registered on the basis of written application made by the petitioner Rup Chand. Hence, the plea taken by the petitioners that the name of the respondent had been deliberately excluded by the police in the FIR, was rightly discarded by the learned trial Court. It has been noticed by the trial Judge in the judgment that in the application Ex:R-1 before the police, the time of occurrence was stated as 4:30 p.m. and the petitioner while appearing in the witness box had stated that he had withdrawn his nomination on 22.03.2005 at 12:30 p.m. Hence, the learned trial Judge rightly held that in case the nomination paper had already been withdrawn by the petitioner, Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 3 then there was no occasion for the respondent to get the petitioners kidnapped at 4:30 p.m. The petitioners had themselves withdrawn their nomination papers and consequently, respondent no.1 was declared as elected Sarpanch unopposed. In this situation, the learned trial Court had rightly dismissed the suit filed by the petitioners. No ground for interference is made out. Dismissed. [SABINA] Judge 21st December, 2009 Shivani Kaushik