Case: R. Chandran Vs. M.V. Marappan

to 26 refer to various disqualifications for membership which do not arise in this case. Under Section 30 the president shall be elected by the persons whose names appear in the electoral roll for the panchayat from among themselves.6. In (1955) 1 SCR 267 =(AIR 1954 SC 520 ) (supra) this Court observed :"In other words, the electoral roll is conclusive as to the qualification of the elector except where a disqualification is expressly alleged or proved. The electoral roll in the case of Vasant Rao did describe him as having been of proper age and on the face of it therefore he was fully qualified to be chosen a member of the State Legislative Assembly. As no objection was taken to his nomination before the Returning Officer at the time of scrutiny, the latter was bound to take the entry in the electoral roll as conclusive; and if in these circumstances he did not reject the nomination of Vasant Rao, it cannot be said that this was an improper acceptance of nomination on his part......It would have been an improper acceptance, if the want of qualification was apparent on the electoral roll itself.......But the election should be held to be void on the ground of the constitutional disqualification of the candidate and not on the ground that his nomination was improperly accepted by the Returning Officer. "This was a case where "Vasant Rao was under 25 years of age and, therefore, not qualified under Art. 173 of the Constitution." In Ramaswamy v. Krishnamurthy, (1963) 3 SCR 479 = (AIR 1963 SC 458 ) this Court had to consider the case of an election to a Panchayat in the State of Mysore. There also the electoral roll was prepared on the basis of the electoral roll for the Assembly constituency in which the panchayat was included. Section 10 of the relevant Act provided that "every person whose name is in the list of voters of any panchayat constituency shall, unless disqualified under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force, be qualified to be elected as a member of the panchayat" which is more or less similar to Section 22 of the Madras Act. The name of the appellant in that case was admittedly included in the electoral roll of the Mysore Legislative Assembly but it was contended that the Electoral Registration Officer did not follow the procedure prescribed for such inclusion under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. This Court held that though this was not done, the inclusion of his name in the electoral roll was not a nullity and that the non-compliance with the procedure prescribed did not affect the jurisdiction of the electoral registration officer and it could not make the officers act non est. This Court further proceeded to point out :"The Act proceeds on the basis that the voters list is final for the purpose of election...... In view of S. 10 of the Act it cannot be said that there is any improper acceptance of the nomination of the appellant, for, his name being in the list of voters, he is qualified to be elected as a member of the Panchayat. There is, therefore, no provision in the Act which enables the High Court to set aside the election on the ground that though the name of a candidate is in the list, it had been included therein illegally." The laws of various States regarding the preparation of electoral rolls for various local bodies in the States proceed on the basis of the electoral rolls prepared for the concerned Legislative Assembly constituency. Therefore all the decisions of this Court regarding the finality of the electoral roll apply directly to the electoral rolls of the various local bodies."7. After the decision of this Court in Ramaswamys case, (1963) 3 SCR 479 =(AIR 1963 SC 458 ) there was no room for any further difference of opinion on the matter. It is, therefore, all the more surprising that the Andhra Pradesh High Court in AIR 1970 Andh Pra 56 (supra) and the Madras High Court in (1966) 2 Mad LJ 560=(AIR 1967 Mad 244 ) (supra) took a different view even after taking note of the decision of this Court. Both these decisions, as we have pointed out earlier, proceed on a wholly wrong assumption. Their attempt to distinguish the decision of this Court in Ramaswamys case is pointless. The provisions of Article 326 of the Constitution are not attracted in deciding upon the validity of the inclusion of a persons name in the electoral roll for a Panchayat merely because the Panchayats Act has adopted a part of the electoral roll for an Assembly constituency as the electoral roll for the Panchayat. And in any case all the decisions of this Court on the finality of the electoral roll and their not being liable to be questioned would equally apply to the electoral rolls of local bodies.For the reasons we have already given the view consistently taken by this Court that when once a name is found in the electoral roll its inclusion could not be questioned in any election petition must be followed. The decisions of the Madras, Andhra and Kerala High Courts, already referred to, should be held to be erroneous and that of the Gujarat High Court in Mahmadhusein v. O. Fidaali, AIR 1969 Guj 334 , Allahabad High Court in Ghulam Mohiuddin v. Election Tribunal, AIR 1959 All 357 (FB), Bombay High Court in Jagannath v. Sukhdeo, AIR 1967 Bom 317 and Punjab and Haryana High Court in Roop Lal Mehta v. Dhan Singh (supra) as correct.In this case, therefore, it was not open either for the Election Tribunal or for the High Court to go into the question regarding the appellants age. The latest decision of Kailasam, J. in P. Subramaniam v. S. Pachamuthu, (1972) 85 Mad LW 567 = (AIR 1973 Mad 366 ) is consistent with the view we have taken.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]The laws of various States regarding the preparation of electoral rolls for various local bodies in the States proceed on the basis of the electoral rolls prepared for the concerned Legislative Assembly constituency. Therefore all the decisions of this Court regarding the finality of the electoral roll apply directly to the electoral rolls of the various local bodies.After the decision of this Court in Ramaswamys case, (1963) 3 SCR 479  =(AIR 1963 SC 458  ) there was no room for any further difference of opinion on the matter. It is, therefore, all the more surprising that the Andhra Pradesh High Court in AIR 1970 Andh Pra 56 (supra) and the Madras High Court in (1966) 2 Mad LJ 560=(AIR 1967 Mad 244  ) (supra) took a different view even after taking note of the decision of this Court. Both these decisions, as we have pointed out earlier, proceed on a wholly wrong assumption. Their attempt to distinguish the decision of this Court in Ramaswamys case is pointless. The provisions of Article 326 of the Constitution are not attracted in deciding upon the validity of the inclusion of a persons name in the electoral roll for a Panchayat merely because the Panchayats Act has adopted a part of the electoral roll for an Assembly constituency as the electoral roll for the Panchayat. And in any case all the decisions of this Court on the finality of the electoral roll and their not being liable to be questioned would equally apply to the electoral rolls of local bodies.For the reasons we have already given the view consistently taken by this Court that when once a name is found in the electoral roll its inclusion could not be questioned in any election petition must be followed. The decisions of the Madras, Andhra and Kerala High Courts, already referred to, should be held to be erroneous and that of the Gujarat High Court in Mahmadhusein v. O. Fidaali, AIR 1969 Guj 334  , Allahabad High Court in Ghulam Mohiuddin v. Election Tribunal, AIR 1959 All 357   (FB), Bombay High Court in Jagannath v. Sukhdeo, AIR 1967 Bom 317   and Punjab and Haryana High Court in Roop Lal Mehta v. Dhan Singh (supra) as correct.In this case, therefore, it was not open either for the Election Tribunal or for the High Court to go into the question regarding the appellants age. The latest decision of Kailasam, J. in P. Subramaniam v. S. Pachamuthu, (1972) 85 Mad LW 567 = (AIR 1973 Mad 366  ) is consistent with the view we have taken.