Summarize the following court judgment. Civil Appeal No. 1958 of 1980. Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 20th July 1979 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 2135/79. P. P. Rao and C. M. Nayar for the Appellants. O. P. Sharma and M M. Dhillon for Respondents Nos. 1 5. section M. Ashri & G. K. Bansal for the other appearing Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SEN	 J. This appeal by special leave from a judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court	 raises a question of some complexity. The question is when there is a notification issued under sub section (3) of section 5 of the Punjab Municipal Act	 1911	 for inclusion of certain local areas within the limits of a municipality	 whether it is permissible for the State Government to hold elections in the municipality without delimitation of wards and preparation of fresh electoral rolls. It arises under the following circumstances. In exercise of their powers under sub section (3) of section 5 of the Punjab Municipal Act	 1911 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act ')	 the State Government of Punjab by notification dated August 2	 1976	 directed inclusion of certain local areas. The local areas so included are: (1) Moranwali Panchayat Area	 (2) Grain Market Area	 (3) Guja Peer Basti	 (4) Jakhal Road	 (5) ITI Area	 (6) BDO Block	 (7) Tehsil Court Area and (8) Thei Area. The Gram Panchayat	 Moranwali challenged the validity of the said notification by a writ petition filed before the High Court. A learned Single 343 Judge granted an ad interim stay staying the operation of the impugned notification. The writ petition was dismissed by the learned Single Judge on October 23	 1978. Thereupon	 the Gram Panchayat preferred a Letters Patent Appeal and prayed for grant of stay of operation of the impugned notification. On December 19	 1978	 a Division Bench passed the following order: Admitted. Stay dispossession ad interim. Notice regarding stay. It is common ground that eventually the stay was confirmed by the Division Bench and remained operative till April 1	 1980 when the Letters Patent Appeal was dismissed. In the meanwhile	 the State Government decided to hold the elections of councillors of the Sunam Municipality on the basis of the old municipal limits	 i.e. from the existing 15 wards	 along with those of the 42 other municipalities	 since proviso to sub section (3) of section 13 of the Act	 inserted by Punjab Act 18 of 1978 as amended by Punjab Act 2 of 1979 made it obligatory for the State Government to hold such elections before June 30	 1979. Accordingly	 the Deputy Commissioner issued a notification on April 6	 1979 under r. 3 of the Election Rules	 1952	 specifying that the elections in the municipality shall be held on June 10	 1979. On June 23	 1979	 i.e. after the whole process of election was over	 the appellants	 who seek to represent about 1000 voters from the local areas newly added to the municipal limits	 filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the election as null and void on the ground that there was no delimitation of wards and no fresh electoral rolls were prepared. The High Court	 by its order dated July 20	 1979	 declined to set aside the elections held	 but directed that the local areas be given representation under sub section (5) of section 5 of the Act. In support of the appeal	 there is a two fold contention advanced. In the first place	 the submission is that when a local area is included within a municipality	 elections cannot be held without delimitation of wards and preparation of fresh electoral rolls; and secondly	 the submission is that	 in any event	 with the vacation of stay	 the election was invalidated. The first of these submissions is unexceptionable	 but it does not arise	 and the second appears to us to be wholly devoid of substance. Sub section (5) of section 5 of the Punjab Municipal Act	 1911	 which is relevant for our purposes	 reads as follows: 344 (5) When any local area included in a municipality under sub section (3) is a Sabha area	 or a part thereof under the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act	 1952	 representation to the inhabitants of the local area so included on the committee of the municipality	 in which local area is included	 shall be given in the prescribed manner. The Act does not prescribe the manner of giving representation to the inhabitants when any local area included in a municipality under sub section (3) of section 5 is a Sabha area	 unlike that in the case of a municipality or a notified area for which an express provision is made in sub section (6) thereof. The matter	 therefore	 falls to be governed by the Election Rules	 1952 and the Delimitation of Wards of Municipalities Rules	 1972	 framed by the State Government in exercise of their powers under section 240 (1) (b) and (c) and section 258 of the Act. Whenever there is a change in the limits of a municipality	 the State Government cannot proceed to hold election of councillors without delimitation of the municipality into wards. The delimitation of wards	 a delicate and important task. is entrusted to a Delimitation Board constituted under r. 3 of the Delimitation of Wards of Municipalities Rules	 1972 and under r. 4 thereof it is the duty of the Delimitation Board to effect a re division of a municipality. That rule reads thus: 4. Functions of the Board it shall be the duty of the Board: (i) to divide the Municipality into such number of wards as may be necessary	 having regard to the number of elected members prescribed by the State Government	 for the Committee	 and the number of seats reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes; and (ii) to re adjust the wards as and when the limits of the Municipality are altered or there is increase in population of the Municipality or there is abnormal variation in population or voting figures of some of the wards of the Municipality	 which requires	 such re adjustment. In the delimitation of wards	 the Board must observe the principles laid down in r. 6	 namely	 (1) all wards shall	 as far as practicable	 be geographically compact areas	 and in delimiting them due regard shall be had to physical features	 existing boundaries of administra 345 tive units	 if any	 facilities of communication and public convenience; (2) wards in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes shall be located	 as far as practicable	 in those areas where the proportion of their population to the total population of the municipality is the largest; and (3) each municipality shall be divided into wards in such manner that the population of each ward	 as far as practicable	 is the same throughout the municipality	 with a variation upto 10 per cent above or below the average population figures. While making a re division	 it may not be possible to achieve mathematical perfection	 but there must definitely be a substantial compliance with the requirement that every person should have an equal vote. The whole purpose of delimitation of municipalities into wards is to ensure that every citizen should get a fair representation in the municipalities. When a municipality is re constituted by the inclusion of any local area within the limits of a municipality under sub section (3) of section 5 or by the exclusion of any local area from the limits of a municipality under section 7	 i.e. when there is an alteration of the limits of the municipality	 there must of necessity be a division of the re constituted municipality into new wards without which the elections cannot be held. There can be no disenfranchisement of a part of the electorate of a municipality. The question was dealt with at some length by the Gujarat High Court in Bhaichandbhai Maganlal Shah vs The State of Gujarat & Ors. and it was observed: It must follow logically and inevitably from this proposition that the constitution of wards dividing the whole of the municipal district is a sine qua non of a valid election. If no wards at all are constituted in the municipal district	 the machinery of election cannot go through and equally the machinery of election cannot go through if wards are constituted in respect of a part of the municipal district and the other part is not divided into any ward or wards. In such a case there would be lists of voters for the wards which are constituted out of a part of the municipal district but there would be no lists of voters so far as the other part of the municipal district is concerned and no one from that part would be qualified to vote or to stand as a candidate for the election and no Councillors being elected by 346 that part	 there would be no representation of that part on the municipality. Where such a situation arises	 it is difficult to see how the Municipality can be said to be a Municipality for the whole of the municipal district within the meaning of section 9. We approve of the view taken by the Gujarat High Court. There can be no dispute with the principle that the State Government without re constituting a municipality into new wards	 cannot proceed to hold an election of councillors	 when there is an extension of the municipal limits	 but the difficulty is about the applicability of that principle to the facts of the present case. There is no denying the fact that the effect of the stay order passed by the learned Single Judge staying the operation of the notification issued under sub section (3) of section 5 was to put the said notification in abeyance	 with the result that the local areas to which it related were not brought within the municipal limits. It is also an undisputed fact that the stay order passed by the learned Single Judge was in force from August 2	 1978 to October 23	 1978. It is	 however	 urged that with the dismissal of the writ petition by the learned Single Judge on October 23	 1978	 the impugned notification was brought into effect and	 therefore	 the State Government could not proceed with the election without delimitation of wards and preparation of fresh electoral rolls. We are afraid	 the contention cannot be accepted. The case presents a rather disturbing feature. There were drastic changes brought about in section 13 of the Act dealing with the term of councillors leading to the supersession of all municipalities in the State and casting an obligation on the State Government to hold fresh elections of councillors	 before June 30	 1979. In these circumstances	 the Division Bench should have acted with greater circumspection. On the contrary	 the Division Bench	 on December 19	 1978 passed a stay order staying the dispossession of the Gram Panchayat although the Gram Panchayat had applied for staying the operation of the impugned notification. It is somewhat unfortunate that the stay order passed by the Division Bench was couched in rather ambiguous terms	 but it had virtually the same effect as the one passed by the learned Single Judge. It is difficult to comprehend the distinction between "stay of dispossession of the Gram Panchayat" and "stay of operation of the impugned notification". Apparently	 the Division Bench	 without applying its mind	 passed an order staying dispossession of the Gram Panchayat	 failing 347 to realise that the effect of stay would dislocate the whole electoral process. When a local area sought to be brought within the limits of the municipality by the issue of a notification under sub section (3) of section 5	 was kept out of such limits by reason of the stay order passed by the Division Bench	 there would obviously be no delimitation of the municipality into new wards. There was some doubt created about the purport and effect of the stay order passed by the Division Bench. This brought about an inevitable chain of events. After the Division Bench passed the order on December 19	 1978	 the State Minister for Transport who represented the Sabha Areas in the State Legislative Assembly wrote to the Minister for Local Self Government to postpone the elections scheduled to be held for the municipality. When the exact nature of the stay order was brought to the notice of the Minister	 he agreed with the view of the Local Self Government Department that the elections to the municipality could not be held without a delimitation of the municipal area. Eventually	 the State Government had no other alternative but to hold the election of the councillors on the basis of the existing limits of the municipality	 i.e. from the existing 15 wards	 due to the amendment of Proviso to sub s.(3) of s.13 of the Act by Punjab Act 2 of 1979 which made it obligatory for the State Government to hold the election before June 30	 1979. There can be no doubt that the State Government acted with the best of intentions in deciding to hold the elections. The election so held on June 10	 1979 was a valid election and the councillors elected are entitled to run their full term of five years as provided by sub s.(2) of section 13. The contention that with the vacation of the stay by the dismissal of the Letters Patent Appeal on April 1	 1980	 the whole election would be invalidated	 must	 therefore	 fail. We are distressed to find that due to the stay order passed by the Division Bench a large number of inhabitants of the local areas brought within the municipal limits under sub s.(3) of s.5 of the Act	 who were otherwise eligible to be enrolled as voters	 have thereby been deprived not only of their valuable right to vote at the election but also of the right to contest as a candidate for election as a councillor from any of the wards of the municipality or to the office of the President or the Vice President. But there is little that can be done in the matter at this stage. Driven to this situation brought about by the stay orders of the High Court	 there is no other alternative but to direct that 348 the local areas included in the municipality under sub section (3) of section 5 should be formed into a ward or wards and representation given to them under sub section (5) of section 5 of the Act. The term of the councillors so elected from such local areas shall be co terminus with the term of the councillors already elected from the existing 15 wards. We are assured by learned counsel for the State that the State Government shall take immediate steps to comply with this direction. This shall be a purely interim arrangement necessitated by the somewhat unfortunate stay orders passed by the High Court. The interim arrangement cannot obviously extend beyond the term of the present council. We hope and trust that the State Government shall	 in the meanwhile	 take steps to constitute a Delimitation Board under r. 3 of the Delimitation of Wards of Municipalities Rules	 1972. After the delimitation of the municipality into new wards	 the State Government shall proceed to re fix the number of councillors of the re constituted municipality under section 11	 prescribe the number of elected councillors afresh as required under cl. (a) of sub section (1) of section 12 of the Act and issue necessary directions for the preparation of fresh electoral rolls as required under rr. 8 and 8A of the Election Rules. In the result	 the appeal fails and is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. S.R. Appeal dismissed.

In exercise of their powers under sub section (3) of section 5 of the Punjab Municipal Act	 1911	 the State Government by its Notification dated August 2	 1976 directed inclusion	 in Sunam Municipality	 of eight local areas including Moranwali Gram Panchayat	 which challenged the validity of the said notification by a writ petition filed before the High Court and obtained stay of operation. Under the Election Rules of 1952 and the Delimitation of Wards of Municipalities Rules	 1972	 whenever there is a change in the limits of the municipality the State Government cannot proceed to hold election of councillors without delimitation of the municipality into wards. However	 since proviso to subsection 3 of section 13 of the Act	 inserted by Punjab Act 18 of 1978 as amended by Punjab Act 2 of 1979 made it obligatory for the state Government to hold the election before June 30	 1979	 along with those of the 42 other municipalities the election of the councillors of the Sunam Municipality was also held on June 10	 1979 on the basis of the old municipal limits	 that is	 from the existing 15 wards. On June 23	 1979 the appellants who seek to represent about 1	000 voters from the local areas newly added to the municipal limits	 filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the election as null and void on the ground that there was no delimitation of wards and no fresh electoral rolls were prepared. The High Court by its order dated July 10	 1979 declined to set aside the elections held	 but directed that the local areas be given representation under sub section(5) 341 of section 5 of the Act. Hence the appeal after obtaining special leave of the Court. Dismissing the appeal	 the Court ^ HELD: 1. The State Government without reconstituting a municipality into new wards cannot proceed to hold an election of councillors	 when there is an extension of the municipal limits. [346 C] 2. The whole purpose of delimitation of municipality into wards is to ensure that every citizen should get a fair representation in them municipalities. When a municipality in reconstituted by the inclusion of any local area within the limits of a municipality under sub section (3) of section 5 or by the exclusion of any local area from the limits of a municipality under section 7	 that is	 when there is an alteration of the limits of the municipality	 there must of necessity be a division of the reconstituted municipality into new wards without which the elections cannot be held. There can be no disenfranchisement of part of the electorate of a municipality. [345 C D] 3. But	 in the instant case	 the said principle could not be applied due to the stay order passed by single Judge of the Punjab High Court which was in force from August 2	 1978 to October 23	 1978 and thereafter till April 1	 1980 consequent to the order of stay of dispossession by the Division Bench	 dated December 19	 1978 in the Letters Patent Appeal preferred by the Gram Panchayat	 Moranwali. When a local area sought to be brought within the limits of the municipality by the issue of a notification under sub section (3) of section 5 was kept out of such limits by reason of the stay order passed by the Division Bench there could	 obviously	 be no delimitation of the municipality into new wards. [346 C	 D; 347 B	 A] 4. To contend that with the dismissal of the writ petition on October 23	 1978	 the impugned notification was brought into effect and therefore	 the State Government could not proceed with election without delimitation of wards and preparation of fresh electoral rolls is incorrect. It is equally incorrect to say that with the vacation of the stay by the dismissal of the Letters Patent Appeal on April 1	 1980 the whole election would be invalidated. The Election held on June 10	 1979 were valid and the councillors elected are entitled to run their full term of five years as provided in section 13. The State Government acted with the best of intentions in deciding to hold the elections. The State Government had no other alternative but to hold the election of the councillors on the basis of the existing limits of the municipality	 that is	 from the existing 15 wards due to the amendment of proviso to subsection (3) of section 13 of the Act by Punjab Act 2 of 1979 which made it obligatory for the State Government to hold the elections before June 30 1979. [347 E	D] Bhaichandbhai Maganlal Shah vs The State of Gujarat and Ors.	 	 approved. 6. In view of the fact that a large number of inhabitants of the local areas brought within the municipal limits under sub section (3) of section 5 of the Act	 342 who were otherwise eligible to be enrolled as voters but for the stay by the High Court	 have thereby been deprived not only of their valuable right to vote at the election but also the right to contest as a candidate for election as a councillor from any of the wards of the municipality or to the office of the President or the Vice President	 the Court directed; (1) that the local areas included in the municipality should be formed into a ward or wards and representation given to them under sub section (5) of section 5 of the Act; (ii) that the term of the councillors so elected from such local areas shall be co terminus with the term of the councillors already elected from the existing 15 wards and (iii) that this shall be a purely interim arrangement necessitated by the somewhat unfortunate stay order passed by the High Court and that obviously it cannot extend beyond the term of the present council. [347 G	 348 B]