Mootham, C.J. - (1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution which raises a question of some importance as to the powers of the Director of Elections appointed under the Panchayat Raj Rules.
(2.) The relevant facts can be shortly stated. The petitioner and the third respondent were nominated as candidates for election to the office of Pradhan of a Gaon Sabha. Both candidates duly presented their nomination papers to the Assistant Returning Officer on the 23rd November, 1955, which was also the date fixed for the scrutiny of nominations. The nomination paper of each of these candidates was, after scrutiny, accepted by the Assistant Returning Officer. On the 3rd December, 1955, the Assistant Returning Officer made an order rejecting the nomination paper of the third respondent on the ground that he, having been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, was disqualified from nomination, and on the following day, that is on the 4th December, the Assistant Returning Officer declared the petitioner duly elected to the office of Pradhan.
(3.) On the 19th December the third respondent filed a petition in this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution with the prayer that a writ be issued quashing the order of the Assistant Returning Officer dated the 3rd December, 1956. The matter then appears to have been brought to the attention of the Director of Elections who, by an order dated the 29th December, 1955, directed that "(1) the subsequent orders of the Assistant Returning Officer reviewing his order dated November 23, 1955, relating, to the nomination paper of Sri Shah Mohammad Khan"--meaning the third respondent--"quashed; and (2) subsequent proceedings relating to poll, if any taken, be quashed and re-poll taken for the office of Pradhan in all constituencies of Gaon Sabha, Russinpur, in respect of candidates including Sri Shah Mohammad Khan.";