M. S. SHAH, J. ( 1 ) SMT Shantaben Nanjibhai Patel, a councillor in Idar municipality has filed Special Civil Application No. 22810 of 2005 challenging the decision of the Election officer and Special Land Acquisition Officer, Sabar Kantha district at Himmatnagar declaring Smt Ramiben Ramabhai parmar (the first respondent in the said petition) as elected to the office of President of Idar Municipality on the ground that the said decision is in flagrant violation of the provisions of sub-rule (4) of Rule 9 of the Gujarat Municipalities (President and Vice President) election Rules, 1964 [hereinafter referred as "the election Rules"]. Special Civil Application No. 24745 of 2005 is filed by smt Ramiben Ramabhai Parmar, the councillor declared to have been elected as President of Idar Municipality, challenging the vires of sub-rule (4) of Rule 9 of the said Election Rules. In view of the fact that the subject matter of the two petitions is inter-connected, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, the petitions were heard together for final disposal and are being disposed of by this common judgment. ( 2 ) THE facts leading to filing of these petitions, briefly stated, are as under :- (1) For electing the President of Idar Municipality, the meeting of the general body of the Idar Municipality was convened by the Collector, Sabarkantha on 7. 9. 2005. For presiding over the said meeting, the Collector nominated the Special Land Acquisition Officer at Himmatnagar. At the said meeting, three candidates filed their nominations. All the three nominations were held to be valid and the Election Officer (Special Land Acquisition officer, Sabarkantha at Himmatnagar) conducted the polling. The 21 councillors present at the meeting voted as under :-