SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. (Oral)
The petitioner, who is a resident of village Kakowal, Tehsil and District Ludhiana, has filed the instant petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuing direction to respondents No. 1 to 6 to allow him to contest the upcoming Panchayat elections for the post of Sarpanch of the village.
It is the case of the petitioner that his nomination papers have been wrongly rejected by the Returning Officer.
After hearing learned counsel for the petitioner, we are not inclined to entertain this petition, as the election process has already started. The elections are scheduled to be held on July 03, 2013. The petitioner has an effective alternative remedy to challenge the election of the successful candidate on the aforesaid ground. Thus, in view of these facts and the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in N.P Ponnuswami v. Returning Officer, Namakkal Constituency, AIR 1952 SC 64; Boddula Krishnaiah v. State Election Commissioner, A.P, (1996) 3 SCC 416; and Election Commission of India v. Ashok Kumar, (2000) 8 SCC 216, at this stage, this petition cannot be entertained.
Dismissed with liberty to the petitioner to avail the alternative remedy of filing the election petition challenging the election of the successful candidate on the aforesaid ground.