Hansaria, J. — This writ petition is directed against an order dated 8. 8. 1979 passed by the Election Tribunal constituted by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council. The Tribunal has, by the impugned judgment, set aside the election of the petitioner as Syiem of Nongkhlaw. 2. The facts which may be noted for the disposal of this petition are these. A vacancy occurred in the post of Syiem of Nongkhlaw Syiemship due to the death of previous Syiem U Kedro Manick. The Deputy Secretary in-charge of the Rural Administration of the District Council sent Parwana dated 31.3 1970 addressed to 3 Myntries of Nongkhlaw Syiemship to nominate a person to be the Syiem of Nongkhlaw Elaka. These three Myntries unanimously recommended the name of the petitioner for the aforesaid post. An objection was raised regarding this communication on the ground that the Electoral College consisted of 5 Myntries whereas the nomination had been sent by three Myntries only. The Executive Committee ruled out the objection. The decision of the Executive Committee was approved by the District Council. The present election petition was thereafter filed before the aforesaid Election Tribunal which has set aside the election only on the ground that five members of the Electoral College which consists of 5 Myntries had, at the relevant time, only 3 Myntries. This decision of the Election Tribunal has been challenged in this writ petition. 3. There is no dispute at the Bar that the Electoral College in question consisted of 5 Myntries It is equally not disputed that the Electoral College at the relevant time consisted of 3 Myntries who unanimously nominated the petitioner for the post of Syiem of Nongkhlaw Elaka. The short point which, therefore, needs decision of this Court is whether the vacancy of two posts in the Electoral College had rendered the nomination of the petitioner void or in any way invalid. 4. The short point which, therefore, needs decision of this Court is whether the vacancy of two posts in the Electoral College had rendered the nomination of the petitioner void or in any way invalid. 4. "Electoral College" has been defined in section 2 (h) of the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (Appointment and Succession of Chiefs and Headmen) Act, 1959, hereinafter the Act, to read as below : " 'Electoral College' means a body of such persons as have been declared qualified to nominate or as the case may be to elect a Chief under any Act, Regulation or Rules made by the District Council or under such customary practice as may be recognised by the Executive Committee to be prevailing in Elaka concerned". 5. There is no dispute that there is no Act, Regulation or Rule made by the District Council relating to the formation of the Electoral College. It has, therefore, to be seen whether any customary practice which may be recognised by the Executive Committee required that all the members of the Electoral College must be in office before the Electoral College can nominate any person to be Syiem. A perusal of the impugned judgment of the learned Election Tribunal shows that it almost took it as a custom that all the five members of the Electoral College must be in office inasmuch as while nomi­nating two Syiems earlier the Electoral College had consisted of all the Myntries. In our view only because of the aforesaid fact it cannot be said that the custom required that all the Myntries must be in office before the Electoral College consisting of them could nominate any person, to be Syiem of the concerned Elaka. A perusal of the impugned judgment also shows that though some steps were taken to fill up the vacancies, because of the certain litigations including many petitions to this Court, the post, could not be filled up. If that be so, it would not be proper to deny the right to the Electoral College though it consisted at the relevant time of three Myntries to nominate such persons as it thinks fit for the post of Syiem. In any case, it cannot be said that the custom of all the Myntries being in office was such which was recognised by the Executive Committee. In any case, it cannot be said that the custom of all the Myntries being in office was such which was recognised by the Executive Committee. As already pointed out, the Executive Committee had really rejected the objections on the aforesaid ground whose decision was approved even by the District Council. It may be pointed out here that in filling up the two vacancies in the Electoral College another difficulty which came in the way was that there was no acting Chief. 6. It has been contended before us that the definition of "Electoral College" would show that it is a body of "such persons as have been duly declared qualified”. It has been urged that when the definition speaks of body of such persons, a part cannot form the body. We have not been much impressed by the submission inasmuch as it is a known fact that at times Electoral Colleges are not constituted of the entire body of persons even then the decision taken by the electoral body cannot be regarded as invalid in the eye of law. In this connection, we may refer with profit to section 27 (J) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, wherein it has been stated that no election by the members of an Electoral College under the aforesaid Act shall be called in question on the ground of merely of the existence of any vacancy in the membership of such College. To the similar effect is the provision in Article 71(4) of the Constitution of India which states that election of President or Vice President shall not be called in question on the ground of the existence of any vacancy for whatever reason among the members of the Electoral College electing him. In this connection we have been referred to a decision of 7 Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court In Re Presidential Election, AIR 1974 SC 1682 , wherein it was held that the dissolution of Legislative Assembly of a State whose members formed part of the Electoral College for election of the President would not affect the election. 7. If an analogy is drawn on the basis of the aforesaid provision of law, it would appear that the two vacancies in the present case in the Electoral College did not invalidate the nomination made by it. 7. If an analogy is drawn on the basis of the aforesaid provision of law, it would appear that the two vacancies in the present case in the Electoral College did not invalidate the nomination made by it. It is worth emphasising that out of the five members of the Electoral College as many as three were in the office and, as such, the majority members did participate in nominating the petitioner to the post of Syiem of the concerned Elaka. It has been contended by Shri Guha that it may be that if two other members were there in the Electoral College, the decision of the three might have been different. This is a hypothetical submission and we are not in a position to take any view regarding this submission. All that we would like to emphasise is that in the present case the majority of the members of the Electoral College did nominate the petitioner and the vacancy of two cannot be regarded such as to invalidate the nomination made by them. It would bear repetition to say that even according to the District Council there was no invalidity in the election. In this connection, we have been referred by Shri Bhattacharjee to Annexure-I which is dated 6th July, 1903 and is from the Secretary to the Government of India in the Forest Department to the officiating Chief Commissioner of Assam wherein it has been held that in the marginally noted States among which Nongkhlaw was mentioned as one, the nomination of Syiem should rest with the majority of the small electoral body. In Annexure-I, there is an extract of Capt. Herbert's report saying a bare majority of five Lyngdohs would be sufficient for the appointment of the Syiem." 8. In view of all that has been sated above, we are of the opinion that the learned Tribunal committed manifest error of law in holding that the nomination of the petitioner was void for the reason that the Electoral College did not consist at the relevant time of all the five members. As this is the only ground on which the election has been set aside, we feel constrained to set aside the impugned judgment and to state that the petitioner was duly and legally nominated and/or elected for the post of Syiem. 9. As this is the only ground on which the election has been set aside, we feel constrained to set aside the impugned judgment and to state that the petitioner was duly and legally nominated and/or elected for the post of Syiem. 9. Before parting, it may be stated that it would always be good, as stated by the Executive Committee, to have full an Electoral College for the purpose of nomination of the Syiem inasmuch as that gives full representation in the Electoral College to all the clan members. We hope that if there be any vacancy in the Electoral College by now the same would be filled up as early as possible. We also observe that the view that we have taken is confined to the facts of the particular case and may not be taken to be general principle of law that in all cases where Electoral College is not completely constituted, the election or nomination by the Electoral College may be valid. 10. In the result, the petition is allowed as aforesaid. Sangma, J. — I agree.