IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL WPPIL NO.669 OF 2008 WITH INTERIM RELIEF APPLICATION NO.5498 OF 2008 Dhirendra Pratap Singh S/O Sri Madhav Singh, R/o Village Pratappur, Tehsil Kichha, Distt. Udham Singh Nagar .…..Petitioner Versus 1. State Election Commission, Uttarakhand 2. District Election Officer/District Magistrate, Udham Singh Nagar …….Respondents Dated: 26th August, 2008 Hon’ble Prafulla C. Pant, J. Hon’ble Dharam Veer, J. Heard Sri Lokendra Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Sanjay Bhatt, learned counsel for the State Election Commission and Sri Subhash Upadhyay, learned counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. By means of this writ petition, the petitioner has sought following reliefs:- i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to permit the petitioner with all the villagers of the revenue village Lohri Ganeshpur (Gram Panchayat Narayanpur Gangapur) to cast their votes in the Gram Panchayat Election, Block Development Council Election and District Panchayat Election of the year 2008. ii) Issue a suitable writ, order or direction, which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case be passed in favour of the petitioner. iii) To award the cost of present petition in favour of the petitioner. Admittedly, the election process is already on. The ground on which the petitioner has sought the relief quoted above is that certain names are missing from the voters’ list. Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we are of the view that once the election process has started, at this stage, it is not just and proper to direct the respondents, to permit petitioner and certain other persons named in the annexures to the writ petition to cast their votes, without their names being in the voters’ list, as would amount interfering with the election. We are of the opinion that the petitioner can challenge the election, after the elections are held, on the ground that the non inclusion of the petitioner and some other persons’ name in the voters’ list has materially affected the election and on that ground the petitioner can seek remedy before the appropriate forum under UP Panchayati Raj Adhiniyam, 1947 (applicable to State of Uttarakhand). With the above observations, we decline to grant the relief prayed by the petitioner and accordingly the writ petition is dismissed summarily. (Interim Relief Application No.5498/2008 is also dismissed). (Dharam Veer, J.) (Prafulla C.Pant, J.) 26.08.2008 RG