(1) wp9171-11 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 9171 OF 2011 Shamimbanik Jamil Ahmed Kureshi PETITIONER VERSUS The Returning Officer for Municipal Council, Bhusawal, Dist. Jalgaon and others RESPONDENTS ..... Mr. P.V. Mandlik, Senior Advocate instructed by Mr. Amol S. Gandhi, advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. B.V. Wagh, A.G.P. for the Respondent-State. Mr. R.B. Dhaware, advocate holding for Mr. U.S. Malte, advocate for Respondent No. 1. ..... CORAM : B.R. GAVAI AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATED : 29th NOVEMBER, 2011 ORAL ORDER: 1. The petitioner challenges the constitutional validity of Section 9A of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 (for short, "the MMC Act"), as being ultra vires of the Constitution of India and also seeks a direction to the respondent No. 1 - Returning Officer for accepting the nomination papers of the petitioner. (2) wp9171-11 2. The validity of Section 9A of the MMC Act has been considered by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of "Bipinchandra Shahurao Thombre and others vs. State of Maharashtra and others", reported in 2010 (2) Bom. C.R. 656. The Division Bench, after holding that the right to contest an election is neither a fundamental, nor a constitutional nor a common law right, but purely a statutory right, has upheld the validity of said Section 9A of the MMC Act. In that view of the matter, we find that there is no merit in the petition. The petition is, therefore, dismissed. [M.T. JOSHI, J.] [B.R. GAVAI, J.] npj/wp9171-11