Civil Petition No. 4682 of 2017 4 “It would be wrong to assume that despite the directives contained in Article 218(3) of the Constitution the Election Commission is helpless or that it can elect not to implement the constitutional mandate. The Act requires the Election Commission to “conduct the local government elections” (section 19), without placing any fetters on the powers of the Election Commission to do so. Rule 78 of the Rules elaborates on the general power of the Election Commission, as under: 78. Powers of Election Commission. Save as otherwise provided, the Commission may: (a) stop the polls at any stage of the election if it is convinced that it shall not be able to ensure the conduct of the election justly, fairly and in accordance with law due to large scale malpractices, including coercion, intimidation and pressures, prevailing at the election; (b) review an order passed by an officer under the Act or the rules, including rejection of a ballot paper; and (c) issue such instructions and exercise such powers, and make such consequential orders, as may in its opinion, be necessary for ensuring that an election is conducted honestly, justly and fairly, and in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the rules.” The above mentioned rule 78 (which mentions the powers of the Election Commission), is drawn up in wide terms and there is no reason for us to exclude therefrom order of a re-poll if elections are not held in accordance with law, mandating secrecy, fairness, justness and/or which are not free from large scale malpractices.” (from paragraph 12) 5. In this case before the results were announced and the requisite notification declaring the winners had been issued by the Election Commission it had issued the said notification. The Presiding Officer, who is an official designated by the Election Commission to perform duties in connection with elections, was set upon and the ballot papers