Pre-election disqualification must be challenged only through the election petition route, with no separate post-election forum.

A pre-election disqualification for encroachment, once finally determined, could be questioned only through an election petition under the constitutional and statutory election scheme. Article 243O and the Panchayati Raj Act confined challenges to election validity to the authorised election petition forum, so the prior finding of disqualification could operate only as a ground in those proceedings. A separate post-election determination by the Deputy Commissioner was impermissible because it would create parallel forums and conflict with the exclusive electoral remedy. The High Court's view was therefore upheld.

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Issues: (i) Whether a challenge to the disqualification of a Panchayat/Zilla Parishad member on the ground of encroachment, when the disqualification had been declared before the election and had attained finality, could be entertained otherwise than by an election petition; (ii) whether, in such circumstances, the Deputy Commissioner could separately determine the matter after the election process was over.

Issue (i): Whether a challenge to the disqualification of a Panchayat/Zilla Parishad member on the ground of encroachment, when the disqualification had been declared before the election and had attained finality, could be entertained otherwise than by an election petition.

Analysis: Part IX of the Constitution and the State Panchayati Raj Act provided a complete electoral scheme. The constitutional bar in Article 243O and the statutory scheme in Sections 162, 163 and 175 of the Act confined questioning of an election to the election petition mechanism before the authorised officer. A prior declaration of encroachment, once final, could be relied upon only as a ground in election proceedings to set aside the election on the basis that the candidate was disqualified on the date of election.

Conclusion: The challenge was maintainable only by way of an election petition.

Issue (ii): Whether, in such circumstances, the Deputy Commissioner could separately determine the matter after the election process was over.

Analysis: Section 122 contemplated determination of disqualification in two situations, but the provision had to be read harmoniously with Article 243O and Section 162 of the Act. Accepting a separate post-election route before the Deputy Commissioner would create parallel proceedings, the possibility of conflicting decisions, and an anomalous construction inconsistent with the constitutional scheme. A purposive and harmonious interpretation therefore required the election petition forum to remain exclusive for matters going to the validity of the election.

Conclusion: The Deputy Commissioner had no independent jurisdiction to set aside the election in the circumstances of the case.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme was construed to preserve the exclusivity of the election petition remedy for election disputes concerning pre-existing disqualification, and the High Court's view was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a candidate's disqualification had already been determined and had attained finality before the election, any challenge to the validity of the election had to be brought only by an election petition under the election law scheme, and not by invoking a separate post-election determination by another authority.

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