Duly elected candidate can’t be stopped from assuming office: SC

Ruling that a duly elected candidate can’t be stopped from assuming the office he/she is elected to, the Supreme Court has ordered the District Election Officer of Jhajjar, Haryana, to give the charge of sarpanch to an elected candidate restrained from assuming charge of the office due to a pending litigation.

“We direct the Deputy Commissioner of Jhajjar-cum-District Election Officer (respondent No. 6) to forthwith give the charge of sarpanch of a village panchayat namely Asaudah (Siwan), Jhajjar, to the appellant,” a Bench led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said, allowing an appeal filed by one Sandeep Kumar, who had won the panchayat elections for the post of sarpanch.

“Under the law currently applicable as laid down by this court…once elections are announced, they should not be interfered with and after the election, the only remedy is to file an election petition and the rejection of a nomination paper is definitely one of the grounds that can be raised in an election petition,” said the Bench which also included Justice A Amanullah. “The respondent No.1 (Vinod) has not availed this remedy. More so, he has not even made appellant (Sandeep) as a party in the writ petition,” it added.

The Haryana State Election Commissioner issued a notification for holding general election to the panchayat in the state of Haryana on October 7, 2022 in which the last date for filing of nomination papers was October 19, 2022; and the last date for scrutiny was October 20, 2022 and the date of polling was November 2, 2022.

Four nomination papers were filed, out of which two were rejected on the ground that the candidates have not done their matriculation from the recognised institute. These rejections included the rejection of the candidature of Vinod — who was the petitioner before the high court.

Consequently, there were only two candidates left in the fray on October 20, 2022 and one of the two i.e. Om Parkash withdrew from the race leaving Sandeep as the only candidate and accordingly he was declared elected by the returning officer. However, Sandeep was not given the charge of sarpanch till today on account of the fact that Vinod had filed a petition before the high court. He moved the high court seeking a direction to the Election Officer to give charge of sarpanch to him but no orders were passed.

The top court noted that under the Haryana Panchayati Raj Election Rules, 1994 (hereinafter called “the Rules”) after the elections, the remedy available for a candidate to challenge the result of an election is by means of an election petition under Section 176(1) of the Rules. Vinod hasn’t filed an election petition, it said.

“We are of the opinion that an interim order needs to be passed in this case as a candidate who has been duly elected in a democratic process cannot be stopped from assuming the elected office, particularly in the manner in which it has been done,” the top court said.

Apex court’s ruling

A Bench led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia has directed the District Election Officer of Jhajjar to give the charge of sarpanch to an elected candidate restrained from assuming charge of the office due to a pending litigation.