A Hisar court has upheld the election of Swati Devi as the sarpanch of Kharbala village, dismissing an election petition filed by rival candidate Sunita and overturning an earlier judgment passed by a lower court.

Additional District Judge Madhulika held that Sunita had failed to prove allegations of bogus voting, electoral irregularities or corrupt practices. The court noted that Swati Devi secured 1,311 of the 2,612 valid votes, defeating Sunita by a margin of 200 votes. The judgment recorded: “The appellant won the election of Sarpanch by a margin of 200 votes… and the petitioner Sunita was second with 1,111 votes.”

A Hansi court had earlier, on August 30, 2025, invalidated Swati Devi’s election, prompting her to challenge the order before the district court.

Rejecting allegations that votes were cast in the names of deceased persons, the court found no evidence to establish how many such votes, if any, impacted the result. It observed: “For the sake of arguments, if it is assumed that dead voters were shown to have exercised their franchise, even then the election of appellant Swati cannot be set aside, as the petitioner… had miserably failed to lead any evidence to show that these votes were cast only in favour of Swati.”

The court further pointed out that no objections had been raised on the polling day regarding the identity of voters. “No grievance had been made on behalf of the petitioner or her polling agents with regard to the identity of persons, who had voted by resorting to procedure provided under relevant Rule,” the judgment said.

Terming the petition time-barred, the judge noted: “The present petition has been filed after expiry of 30 days in violation.”

On the issue of corrupt practices, the court held: “No evidence whatsoever has been led to prove that the election was conducted in a corrupt and illegal manner.” Concluding the matter, the order stated: “It can be safely held that the actual mandate of the electorate is given in favour of Swati Devi.”