ORDER M. Katju, J.
1. This writ petition has been filed for a writ of certiorari for quashing the declaration of the respondent No. 6 as elected Pradhan.
2. It is alleged in writ petition that in the year 2000 election of the Gram Panchayat was held and five persons filed nominations as stated in para 3 of the petition. Polling was held on 30.6.2000 and the counting of votes started on 26.6.2000 and the result was declared on the same day. Photostat copy of the result is Annexure-1. A perusal of this result shows that the petitioner Badan Singh was shown to have received 597 whereas the respondent No. 6 was shown to have been received 585. The Election Officer issued a certificate to the petitioner on 26.6.2000 stating he is elected as Pradhan. It is alleged in para 7 that on the first counting Amar Singh filed application before the Returning Officer and the Returning Officer had inspected the votes and found no illegality in the counting, which was complete at 10.00 a.m. and the petitioner was declared elected Pradhan. It is alleged in para 8 that the petitioner was declared as elected Pradhan and certificate to this effect was also issued but thereafter, some conspiracy has taken place, and under the political pressure of President of Zila Panchayat, the Returning Officer declared-respondent No. 6, as elected candidate and issued certificate to him at 10 p.m. without informing the petitioner. It is alleged in para 9 of the petition that all the affairs have taken place behind the back of the petitioner. It is alleged that after the declaration of the result the respondents ceased to have power to count votes again. The petitioner moved representation to the Election Commissioner before respondent No. 4 on 29.6.2000 vide Annexure-4.
3. A counter-affidavit has been filed and we have perused the same. It is admitted in para 4 of the counter-affidavit that the petitioner was declared elected Gram Pradhan on 26.6.2000. However, the representation of the respondent No. 6 for recounting was done and the respondent No. 6 was then declared as Pradhan.
4. It is well-settled that once the election result is declared, the only remedy is to file an election petition vide Shambhu Singh v. State Election Commissioner, 2000 (4) AWC 2777 : 2000 (41) ALR 11 and Smt. Ram Kanti v. D. M. and Ors., 1995 AWC 1465, under the relevant statutory provision, which is Section 12C of the U. P. Panchayat Raj Act. The remedy of the respondent No. 6 was to file an election petition. In this case the concerned authority after declaring the petitioner as elected Pradhan subsequently declared respondent No. 6 as elected Pradhan. In our opinion this was clearly illegal. Hence, we allow the writ petition and direct that the petitioner shall be allowed to function as Pradhan and shall be given oath of Pradhan.