// 1 // IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR ORDER IN S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.7001/2008 Mahender S/o Shri Shiv Prasad @ Sofi Versus The District Judge, Dholpur and Others Date of Order ::: 11.08.2008 Present Hon'ble Mr. Justice Narendra Kumar Jain Shri Rajkamal Gaur, Counsel for petitioner Shri D.K. Garg, Counsel for respondent No.2 #### By the Court:- Admit. Shri D.K. Garg, Advocate, appears for the contesting respondent No.2. So far as other respondents are concerned, the learned counsel for both the parties contended that they are only formal parties and their services can be dispensed with. Ordered accordingly. Heard learned counsel for the parties. The petitioner as well as the respondents No.2 to 7 contested the election for the post of Member of Ward No.23 of Municipal Board, Dholpur. The election petitioner Khalil @ Khillu (respondent No.2 herein) as well as respondent No.1 Mahender (petitioner herein) got 366 votes each, therefore, as per Rule 68 of the Rajasthan // 2 // Municipalities (election) Rules, 1994, a lot was drawn in the presence of the candidates and petitioner Mahender was declared elected as Municipal Member from Ward No.23. The respondent No.2 Khalil @ Khillu filed Election Petition under Section 34 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1959 before the District Judge, Dholpur against the petitioner as well as the respondents No.3 to 7. The election petition was contested by the present petitioner. The parties led their evidence. The case was fixed for final arguments. The final arguments were heard in the case. The District Judge, Dholpur, vide its order dated 17th July, 2008 ordered for recounting of 22 invalid votes before passing any final order in the Election Petition. Being aggrieved with the same, the elected candidate Mahender has preferred this writ petition. The learned counsel for the petitioner contended that, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, the learned District Judge committed an illegality in passing the order for recounting of 22 invalid votes. He contended that there was no material evidence available on the record so as to pass the order for recounting of invalid votes. On the other hand, the learned counsel // 3 // for the respondent No.2 (election-petitioner) defended the impugned order and contended that the order passed by the learned Election Tribunal is perfectly justified in the eye of law. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and examined the impugned order dated 17th July, 2008 and also the other documents annexed with the writ petition. It appears that there were total seven candidates who contested the election for the post of Member of Ward No.23 of the Municipal Board, Dholpur. The ballot papers were counted for three times as mentioned in the election petition; first time the respondent No.2 Khalil (election-petitioner) got 369 votes, whereas the petitioner Mahender got 366 votes; second time two votes belonging to Khalil were declared invalid; and, third time one more vote belonging to Khalil was declared invalid and, as such, the votes of both these candidates became equal i.e. 366 votes. And, as per the Rule, the lot was drawn and respondent No.1 Mahender (petitioner herein) was declared elected as Member of Ward No.23 of the Municipal Board, Dholpur. The learned trial court, while // 4 // considering the Issue No.1, has appreciated the evidence and relevant record in Para Nos.11 and 12 of its judgment in detail and recorded a finding that 22 invalid votes are required to be inspected again in the interest of justice. The learned District Judge has assigned good and cogent reasons for passing the order regarding recounting of 22 invalid votes in the facts and circumstances of the present case. I do not find any illegality, perversity or jurisdictional error in the impugned judgment which calls for any interference of this Court. There is no merit in this writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs. (Narendra Kumar Jain) J. //Jaiman//