Ordered that the judgment is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the application for an opportunity to ballot is denied.
In this matter the petition purporting to designate Salvatore Albanese as the Liberal candidate for the public office of Member of the New York City Council for the 31st Councilmanic District was invalidated by the New York City Board of Elections because the subscribing witness of 15 of the requisite 30 signatures did not reside in the district. Inasmuch as the deficiency in the petition was not a mere technical challenge, there was no equitable basis for authorizing a write-in primary and the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in so doing (see, Matter of Quaglia v. Lefever, 143 A.D.2d 238; Matter of Santoro v. Kujawa, 133 A.D.2d 534; cf., Matter of Schwarzfeld v D'Apice, 133 A.D.2d 203, 204). Kunzeman, J.P., Eiber, Spatt, Harwood and Balletta, JJ., concur.