IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No 3266 of 2009 Rekha Devi, wife of Ramesh Kumar, resident of village – Narma, Police Station – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad -Petitioner Versus 1 The State of Bihar 2 The State Election Commissioner, State Election Commission, Bihar, Patna 3 The Collector cum District Election Officer, Jehanabad 4 The District Panchayati Rajya Padadhikari, Jehanabad 5 The Block Development Officer cum Returning Officer cum Nirvachi Padadhikari, Block – Hulasganj, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 6 Bibha Devi @ Bibha Kumari, wife of Pappu Kumar, resident of village – Khudauri, P O and P S – Hulasganj, District – Jehanabad, present Mukhiya of Khudauri Gram Panchayat under Hulasganj Block, Jehanabad 7 Urmila Devi, wife of Raj Kishore Sharma, resident of village – Mokimpur, P O and P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 8 Kabita Kumari, wife of Lalan Sharma, resident of village – Sultanpur, P O – Bhagwanpur, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 9 Kanti Devi, wife of Rajendra Prasad, resident of village – Jagua Bigha, P O and P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 10 Kintu Devi, wife of Jaibhan Sharma, resident of village – Imadpur, P O – Bauri Beldari, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 11 Genda Devi, wife of Pradeep Sharma, resident of village – Raghunathpur, P O – Raghunathpur, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 12 Babita Devi, wife of Dharmendra Yadav, resident of village – Mallahchak, P O – Bauri Beldari, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 13 Baby Devi, wife of Arun Kumar, resident of village – Raghunathpur, P O and P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 14 Manju Devi, wife of Sunit Sharma, resident of village – Sultanpur, P O – Bhagwanpur, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 15 Malti Devi, wife of Ram Lagan Sharma, resident of village – Mokimpur, P O and P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 16 Meena Devi, wife of Rajendra Sharma, resident of village – Narma, P O – Narma, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 17 Meera Devi, wife of Ajay Kumar, resident of village – Khudauri, P O and P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad 18 Sunita Devi, wife of Ram Janam Sharma, resident of village – Narma, P O – Narma, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jebanabad 19 Sushma Devi, wife of Shree Niwas Prasad, resident of village – Walipur, P O – Bhagwanpur, P S – Hulasganj in the district of Jehanabad -Respondents ----------- 6 03.03.2010 Heard Mr Sharma, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner. He appears for a candidate who had lost by six votes and, as such, filed an election petition which has been dismissed. His only ground for challenging the election of respondent No 6 is 2 that 28 persons had voted in favour of respondent No 6, the winning candidate and they were in the electoral rolls of two different Gram Panchayats. He submits that they could not have voted in both the Gram Panchayats. The Election Tribunal has dismissed the election petition on the ground that whether they had voted at all or not has not been established. In my view, even if what Mr Sharma, learned Senior Counsel submits is accepted that those 28 persons had voted in favour of respondent No 6 and were enrolled in two different Gram Panchayats that, in my view, would make little difference. This Court has earlier held in several judgments that each Gram Panchayat is a separate independent unit of local self Government. It has also been held that if in one Gram Panchayat, a person figures in two wards that would disqualify him at least in one because in the same election process for the same local self Government, a person can exercise his vote only once. That is not the case here. The election process is too different for two different Governments. That being so, I find no merit in this application. It is, accordingly, dismissed. M.E.H./ (Navaniti Prasad Singh)