MALIMATH, J. ( 1 ) IN this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the elections to all the four divisions of the Town Muncipal Council of Bhadravathi. ( 2 ) THE notice of General Elections was issued by the Tahsildar and returning Officer on the 27th of March 1969 according to which, the last date for filing of the nomination papers was 3rd of April 1969, the date for scrutiny of nomination papers was 5th of April 1969, the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers was 8th of April 1969, and the date of the polling for all the four divisions was 29th of April 1969. ( 3 ) BEFORE polling could take place, one Pakir Sab Haji, a validly nominated candidate for the fourth division, died on the 19th of April 1969. The Returning Officer by his order dt. 25th of April 1969 made in exercise of the powers vested in him under Rule 24 of the Mysore Municipalities (Election of Councillors) Rules. 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the rules), countermanded the election in so far as it pertained to the fourth division, and directed that elections in respect of the first, second and third divisions shall take place as per the calendar of events already published. In pursuance of the said order a fresh calendar of events was published for conducting the election to the fourth division. In regard to the first, second and third divisions, elections took place on the 29th of April 1969 as per the original calendar of events. The election to the fourth division took place on the 12th of June 1969. ( 4 ) THE complaint of the petitioner who was a candidate from the fourth division is, that the Returning Officer acted in contravention of R. 24 of the Rules when he countermanded the poll only in respect of the fourth division on account of the death of Pakir Sab Haji who was a candidate from that division. ( 5 ) IT is not disputed that the said Pakir Sab Haji was a validly nominated candidate contesting election from the first, second and third divisions. ( 5 ) IT is not disputed that the said Pakir Sab Haji was a validly nominated candidate contesting election from the first, second and third divisions. It was urged by the learned Counsel for the petitioner that as a candidate from one of the divisions of the Municipal Council died before the date of poll, it was obligatory on the part of the Returning Officer to countermand under Rule 24 of the Rules not only election of the division in respect of which the deceased person had offered himself as a candidate but in respect of all the divisions. This argument is constructed on the language of Rule 24 which reads as follows: " 24. Death of candidate before poll. If a contesting candidate dies and a report of his death is received before the commencement of the poll, the Returning Officer shall, upon being satisfied of the fact of the death of the candidate, countermand the poll and report the matter to the Commissioner and all proceedings with reference to the election shall be commenced anew in all respects as if for a new election: provided that no further nomination shall be necessary in the case of a person who was a contesting candidate at the time of the the countermanding of the poll: provided further that no person who has given a notice of withdrawal of his candidature under Rule 15 before the countermanding of the poll, shall be ineligible for being nominated as a candidate for the election after such countermanding. The learned Counsel for the petitioner laid emphasis on the expresions " and all proceedings with reference to the election shall be commenced anew in all respects as if for a new election" occurring in the first part of Rule 24, and urged that a plain reading of that rule makes it clear that once a candidate of anyone of the divisions Municipal Council dies before the poll, a fresh election has to take pace by the issue of a fresh calendar of events in respect of all the divisions. ( 6 ) IT is no doubt true that Rule 24 of the Rules does not in so many words say that the countermanding of the poll should be confined only to the division in respect of which the deceased person had offered himself as a candidate, and likewise, there are no clear words stating that fresh election should take place only in respect of the division in respect of which the deceased person was a candidate. But, the context in which the expressions countermand the poll' and 'election' have been used in that rule, makes it abundantly clear that they have reference only to the division in respect of which the deceased person was a candidate. The death of a person who is a candidate in respect of a division, will have repurcussion only in that particular division. The election process is a long and complicated process involving considerable preparation and expenditure. It is, therefore, not reasonable to construe Rule 24 of the Rules as yielding an unreasonable result such as the necessity to go through the entire process of fresh elections in respect of the divisions for which the deceased person had not offered as a candidate. ( 7 ) THE second proviso to Rule 24 also supports the construction which we are inclined to put on the first part of that rule. The second proviso states that a person who had given a notice of withdrawal of his candidature under Rule 15 before the countermanding of the poll can offer himself as a candidate for the election after the countrmanding of the poll. That proviso is obviously intended to give an opportunity to candidates who had decided to withdraw from the contest having regard to the situation then prevailing as a result of several candidates being in the field. If one of the candidates ceased to be in the field as a result of his death, the candidate who had earlier withdrawn his nomination paper may reconsider his decision and offer himself as a candidate in view of the changed situation. Such a situation will arise only in respect of a division where the deceased person was a candidate and it will have no relevance whatsoever in regard to the other divisions where the deceased person was not a candidate. Such a situation will arise only in respect of a division where the deceased person was a candidate and it will have no relevance whatsoever in regard to the other divisions where the deceased person was not a candidate. It is, therefore, not reasonable to assume that an unnecessary opportunity would have been given to candidates from other divisions who had decided to withdraw from the elections, to offer themselves as fresh candidates not because there was any change in the situation in respect of the divisions where they were candidates but because there occurred a change in the situation in some other division as a result of the death of one of the candidates in that division. We are, therefore, clearly of opinion that the context in which the expressions 'countermand the poll and election' have been employed in the first part of Rule 24, makes it clear that they have reference only to the poll and the election respectively of the division in respect of which the deceased person was a candidate. ( 8 ) WE are not impressed by the argument of the learned Counsel for the petitioner that the construction put by us on Rule 24, would result in unreasonably denying the candidates of a division the poll of which is countermanded, an opportunity to contest the elections for the President and Vice-President of the Municipal Council. It appears to us that the scheme of the Mysore Municipalities Act 1964 is such that, the election to the President and Vice-President can be held notwithstanding the fact that all the Councillors of the Council are not elected. Sec. 18 (3) of the said Act provides that the date from which the term of office of not less than 2|3 of the total number of Councillors commences shall be deemed to be the date from which the Town Municipal Council is duly constituted. Sub-rule (6) of Rule 3 of the Mysore Municipalities (President and Vicepresident) Election Rules, 1965, provides that in the case of election of the president and the Vice-President, the election shall ordinarily be held before the expiry of four weeks from the date of constitution or reconstitution of the Municipal Council or from the date of occurrence of a vacancy referred to in sub-rule (4) of the said rule as the case may be. As mentioned already, the constitution of the Municipal Council wil be complete as provided under S. 18 (3) of the said Act when the term of office of not less than two-thirds of the total number of Councillors commences. The effect of S. 18 (3) of the said Act read with sub-rule (6) of Rule 3 of the Mysore Municipalities (President and Vice-President) Election Rules is, that, the election of the President and the Vice President can take place notwithstanding the fact that the term of office of one third of the total number of Councillors has not commenced. We are therefore of opinion that the argument, of the learned Counsel for the petitioner that the candidates from the division in respect of which poll has been countermanded cannot participate in the election of the President and Vice-President, is not such as to induce us to put a different construction on Rule 24. ( 9 ) WE are satisfied that the Returning Officer was justified in this case in countermanding the poll of only the fourth division and holding fresh election only in respect of that division. We therefore do not find any infirmity justifying the invalidation of the entire elections for all the four divisions. ( 10 ) FOR the reasons stated above, this writ petition fails and the same is dismissed. No costs. --- *** --- .