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"........ In my opinion, to affirm such a position would be contrary to the scheme of Part IX of the Constitution and the Representation of the Poeple Act, which as I shall point out later, seems to be that any matter which has the effect of vitiating an election should be brought up only at the appropriate stage in an appropriate manner before a special tribunal and should not be brought up at an intermediate stage before any Court ........ If the grounds on which an election can be called in question could be raised at an earlier stage and errors, if any, are rectified, there will be no meaning in enacting a provision like Article 329(b) and in setting up a special tribunal. Any other meaning ascribed to the words used in the article would lead to anomalies, which the Constitution could not have contemplated ......."

30. In Mohinder Singh Gill and another (supra), the Supreme Court considered the scope of Article 324. The Supreme Court in the said case observed thus at page 890-

"What is the scope and ambit of Article 324 of the Constitution? The Constitution of our country ushered in a Demoratic Republic for the free people of India. The founders of the Constitution took solemn care to devote a special chapter to Elections niched safely in Part XV of the Constitution. Originally there were only six articles in this Part opening with Article 324. The penultimate Article in the chapter, as it stands, is Article 329 which puts a ban on interference by courts in electoral matters. We are not concerned in this appeal with the newly added Article 329A which is the last Article to close the chapter."

In the said case the Supreme Court further observed thus-

"Article 324(1) vests in the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of the President and Vice President held under the Constitution Article 324(1) is thus couched in wide terms. Power in any democratic set up, as is the pattern of our polity, is to be exercised in accordance with law. That is why Articles 327 and 328 provide for making of provisions with respect to all matters relating to or in connection with elections for the Union Legislatures and for the State Legislatures respectively. When appropriate laws are made under Article 327 by Parliament as well as under Article 328 by the State Legislatures, the Commission has to act in conformity with those laws and the other legal provisions made thereunder. Even so, both Arts. 327 and 328 are 'subject to the provisions' of the Constitution which include Article 324 and Article 329. Since the conduct of all elections to the various legislative bodies and to the offices of the President and the Vice President is vested under Article 324(1) in the Election Commission, the framers of the Constitution took care to leaving scope for exercise of residuary power by the Commission in its own right, as a creature of the Constitution, in the infinite variety of situations that may emerge from time to time in such a large democracy as ours. Every contignency could not be foreseen, or anticipated with precision. That is why there is no hedging in An. 324. The Commission may be required to cope with some situation which may not be provided for in the enacted laws and the rules. That seems to be the raison d'etre for the opening clause in Articles 327 and 328 which leaves the exercise of powers under Article 324 operative and effecive when it is reasonably called for in a vacuous area....."

33. I have already discussed various decisions of the Supreme Court. From the decisions discussed above, it is now well settled law that any dispute regarding holding of election can be challenged only by way of election petition and no other form is available to the persons aggrieved, to challenge any dispute regarding holding of an election as there is a specific bar under Article 329(b). On careful reading of Article 324(1) and the decisions given by the Apex Court in vnrious cases mentioned above, it appears that the Election Commissioner has the power in respect of the election matters. Article 327 of the Constitution empowers the Parliament by law to make provisions with respect to all matters relating to, or in connection with, elections to either House of Parliament or to the Houses of the State Legislature including preparation of electoral rolls, delimitation of constituencies and all other matters necessary for securing due constitution of such House or Hosues.