AKIL KURESHI,CJ. - (1.)This petition is filed by 10(ten) elected members of Dakshin Krishnapur Gram Panchayat challenging separate orders all passed on 24.09.2019 by which they have been disqualified as members of the said Gram Panchayat by the Block Development Officer, Teliamura R.D. Block, Teliamura, respondent No.3 on the ground that they had violated the party whip in the conduct of elections for the posts of Pradhan and Upa-Pradhan of the said Gram Panchayat.
(2.)Brief facts are as under:
Petitioners were elected as members of the said Gram Panchayat for which the elections were held sometime in the month of August, 2019. They were all sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, for short). First meeting of the Panchayat was convened on 16.08.2019 when all the newly elected members were given oath of office. This was followed by the procedure for election of Pradhan and Upa-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat. One Sri Gopal Das was elected as Pradhan and one Smt. Manju Rani Debnath was elected as Upa-Pradhan. Both elections were uncontested. In other words, these were the only two candidates for the respective posts.

(3.)The Block Development Officer issued individual notices to all the petitioners dated 30.08.2019 pointing out that he/she has violated the whip of the BJP during the process of election of office of Pradhan of the said Gram Panchayat. He was, therefore, called upon to submit a document of condonation/pardon from the concerned political party, if any, issued to be produced before 15.09.2019, failing which he/she would incur disqualification in terms of Section 16 of the Tripura Panchayats Act, 1993.