(1)No election to fill a seat or seats in a Panchayat shall be called in question except by an election petition prescribed on one or more of the grounds specified in sub-section (1) of section 20 and section 21 to such authority as may be prescribed, by any candidate at such election or by any voter qualified to vote at such election together with a deposit of five hundred rupees as security for costs, within thirty days from, but not earlier than, the date of declaration of the result of the election of the returned candidate at the election, and if the dates of declaration of the results of their election are different, the last of these dates.(2)A petitioner shall join as respondents to his petition,-(a)where the petitioner, in addition to claiming a declaration that the election of all or any of the returned candidates is void, claims a further declaration that he himself or any other candidate has been duly elected, all the contesting candidates other than the petitioner, and where no such further declaration is claimed, all the returned candidates; and(b)any other candidates against whom allegations of any corrupt practice are made in the petition.(3)Every election petition shall be accompanied by as many copies thereof as there are respondents mentioned in the petition and every such copy shall be attested by the petitioner under his own signature to be a true copy of the petition.Explanation:- The expression "returned candidate" means candidate who has been declared as duly elected.
