Election of councillor is null and void, says Bombay High Court

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has held that the election of a councillor to the Bhor Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Pune, who failed to provide validity certificate within the stipulated time period, was null and void.

A division bench of the high court said the election was null and void under section 9A of the Maharashtra Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 and re-elections had to be held for the post. The bench, however, ruled that the candidate could still re-contest for the election.

A full bench consisting of Justices A.S. Oka, M.S. Sonak and A.S. Gadkari was hearing a writ petition referred to the Acting Chief Justice by the division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and V.L. Achilya. The petition was on whether by producing caste certificate, an elected councillor, after the expiry of the stipulated time, could validate his election. The petition was filed by Anant Ulahalkar challenging the election of Manisha Kale to ward 2 of the BMC on the grounds that she had failed to provide a caste certificate within six months of her election to the post.

After referring to previous cases, the bench concluded that as Manisha had produced the certificate after a month of expiry of the stipulated six months, she was disqualified. The court, however, held that producing the certificate would enable her to re-contest for election.