election of the petitioner as Sarpanch of Phirangipuram Gram Panchayat. Broadly, the principal ground on which the election of the petitioner was questioned was that as many as 491 votes, which were invalid, were illegally counted in favour of the petitioner, as a result of which, the petitioner was declared as elected by a margin of only one vote. During the trial, the evidence on the side of respondent No.1 was completed. At that stage, she has filed IA.No.1161 of 2014 under Order XVI Rule 6 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) to direct respondent No.3 herein (Election Officer) to cause production of the documents and other material including counted and rejected (invalid) ballot papers in the list, which are lying with him, for confrontation of the averments by respondent No.1. Interestingly, respondent No.1 has not impleaded the petitioner herein, who is the returned candidate and whose interests will be directly affected, if the said IA is allowed. The Election Tribunal, by its Order, dated 12-02-2015, has allowed the said IA and directed respondent No.2- District Election Officer to produce all the material in original, as mentioned in the list of documents filed along with the IA, for confrontation by respondent No.1 during the cross-examination of respondent No.3 as RW.1. Feeling aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner has filed C.R.P.No.3864 of 2015 with an application for leave. This Court has allowed the said leave application.
