Writ Jurisdiction Cannot Be Extended Against The Rejection Of Nomination Papers At An Intermediate Stage Of Gram Panchayat Elections: Bombay HC

A full bench of the Bombay High Court comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice G.S. Kulkarni held that a writ petition under Art. 226 challenging the rejection of nomination papers by the Returning Officer cannot be entertained as it is not a step in facilitating the election process. The Court was hearing a reference made to a larger bench after the division bench of the High Court was dealing with two conflicting opinions of the Court raising different opinions with regards to the maintainability of the petitions. The bench also clarified that Art. 243-O(b) of the Constitution places a bar on the HC for entertaining writ petitions under Art. 226 against impugned orders passed by the Returning Officer rejecting the nomination papers.