IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.12712 of 2010 Date of decision: 24th August, 2010 Saleem Khan … Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others … Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. R.K. Bagga, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Himanshu Raj, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana for the State. Mr. Arvind Singh, Advocate for respondent No.2. Mr. Ravinder Singh Budhwar, Advocate for respondent No.6. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) This Court, on July 30, 2010, had passed the following order: “Counsel for the respondents pray for an adjournment to file written statements. List on 4th August, 2010. Meanwhile, Mr. Himanshu Raj, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana, on instructions from Sh.Puran Mal, Secretary, State Election Commission, undertakes to produce nine ballot papers, which were found from the ballot-box of Block Samiti, Indri.” Thereafter, the votes were brought in the Court and were counted. This is reflected in order dated August 4, 2010, which reads as under: “Separate written statements on behalf of respondent No.2; and respondents No.1 to 5 have been filed today in Court. The same are taken on record. The votes pertaining to Ward No.2 found in the ballot- box of Block Smiti, Indri have been brought in the Court in a Civil Writ Petition No.12712 of 2010 sealed cover. Let the sealed cover be opened and votes be counted in the presence of parties. Dinesh Singh Yadav, Returning Officer, Block Smiti, Indri, who is present in Court along with Parveen Kumar, Returning Officer, Ward No.2, has stated that from the packet of Block Smiti, seven votes pertaining to Ward No.2 have been found, out of which three are in favour of Rajesh-respondent No.6 and four in favour of Saleem-petitioner. At the moment, Rajesh and Saleem have obtained equal votes. Therefore, the winner is to be decided by a draw of lots. Before this exercise is undertaken, it will be necessary for counsel for the parties to determine the issue as to whether the votes found in the ballot-box of Block Smiti can be taken into consideration/counted or not. List for arguments on 24th August, 2010. The Returning Officer of Block Smiti, Indri is directed to again seal the votes and keep them in safe custody.” Counsel for the petitioner states that he be permitted to withdraw the present petition and be relegated to avail the remedy of filing an election petition. Counsel for the respondents have no objection thereto. As prayed, dismissed as withdrawn. The petitioner is permitted to file an election petition. In case the same is filed within a period of two weeks from today, no objection shall be raised that the same is barred by limitation. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE August 24, 2010 rps 2