Syeda Noor Fatima Zaidi Vs Heena Urooz 2024 INSC 1053 - Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act

Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 - Section 37(2)(b)- Section 37(2)(b) of the Act does provide for declaring the person having the second highest number of votes, if the same be a majority of the valid votes without counting the votes secured by the originally returned candidate. The position in law holding the field thus far, seems to be to declare a candidate elected on the disqualification of another, only if there were two candidates in fray and not where candidates are more than two - In Vishwanatha Reddy v Konappa Rudrappa Nadgouda, AIR 1969 SC 604, the Court did not lay down a blanket principle that one candidate could be declared returned on the other’s disqualification only if there were two candidates in total, and in no other scenario. The Court clearly suggested that in an election with more than two candidates in the fray, notice to the voters ‘may assume significance’, and the candidate with the next highest number of votes would not be declared elected as a sequitur to the disqualification of the original returned candidate. It is apparent from the exposition of the law that the the course of action in elections with more than two candidates and the returned candidate being disqualified, would turn on the phrase ‘may’. (Para 21)