Election petition limitation rules permit condonation of delay where the statute treats the petition as an application and incorporates the Limitation Act.

Under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, the term "Judge" was read as a judicial authority belonging to a class of judges, not a persona designata, so election petitions were to be tried by a court. The statutory scheme treated an election petition as an application for limitation purposes, and Section 435 linked the relevant chapter to Sections 5, 12 and 14 of the Limitation Act. On that construction, delay in filing an election petition could be condoned under Section 5 unless expressly excluded, reflecting a legislative intent to decide election challenges on their merits rather than on technical default.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Judge deciding an election petition under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act was a persona designata and whether delay in filing such election petition could be condoned by applying Section 5 of the Limitation Act through Section 435 of the Act.

Analysis: The definition of "Judge" under Section 2(29) did not indicate an individual office-holder but a judicial authority belonging to a class of judges, and the scheme of the Act showed that election petitions were meant to be tried by a Court and not by a persona designata. Section 16 described the proceeding as an "application" to the Judge, while Chapter 26 and Section 435 linked the limitation framework for appeals and applications referred to in that Chapter with Sections 5, 12 and 14 of the Limitation Act. The statutory scheme, read as a whole, reflected a legislative intent to preserve the purity of elections and not to defeat election challenges on technical grounds. The binding Supreme Court decision holding that an election petition is an application for limitation purposes applied fully to the controversy.

Conclusion: The Judge was empowered to condone delay in filing the election petition, and the contention that the Judge lacked jurisdiction was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: An election petition under the Act is an application for limitation purposes, and where the statute incorporates the Limitation Act for applications in the relevant chapter, delay may be condoned under Section 5 unless expressly excluded.

---