DR.AR.LAKSHMANAN, CJ. - (1.) The appellant is presently working as Branch Manager, Industrial Estate, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur at Bharatpur. He filed the present writ petition: (a) to call for the records and to issue direction to the respondent 4 to implement the D.O. letter/Communication/Circular, dated August 24, 1992 and February 24, 1993; (b) to declare respondents 5 to 8 as ineligible to contest and participate in election for the post of office-bearers in Triennial Election 2000-2003 of Associate Banks Officers Association Unit State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur; (c) to declare the election Circular No.2 of 2000, dated August 3, 2000, and list of final nomination received on August 10, 2000, as illegal, arbitrary and to quash the same and for other consequential reliefs.
(2.) It is the case of the appellant-petitioner that the contesting respondents are not entitled to file nomination and to contest the election for Triennial Election, 2000-2003. He has also raised other contentions questioning the election. The appellant states that the entire election process is totally illegal and in such circumstances, the entire election is liable to be vitiated, quashed and set aside.
(3.) Reply was filed on behalf of respondent 8 to the writ petition. The respondents questioned the maintainability of the writ petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India and that respondent 4, who is a Returning Officer in the matter of election of Associate Banks Officers Association, Unit State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, is not a statutory authority nor an authority or State functionary and, therefore, no writ petition under Art.226 is maintainable. It is also submitted that the election dispute cannot be a subject-matter of writ petition and that the person aggrieved by an election process starting from the notification calling upon the Association to elect office-bearers and culminating in the candidate being elected, is required to wait till the result is declared and then the election of the returned candidate could be avoided by a civil action by filing a suit or an election petition. It is also submitted that proper and necessary parties have not been impleaded as party to the writ petition and that the petitioner having participated in the election process is not competent to challenge the election and the election process and he is thus, estopped to make any grievance through the writ petition.;