(1) If there are more petitioners than one, no application to withdraw an election petition shall be made except with the consent of all the petitioners.
(2) No application for withdrawal shall be granted if, in the opinion of the High Court, such application has been induced by any bargain or consideration which ought not to be allowed.
(3) If the application is granted—
(a) the petitioner shall be ordered to pay the costs of the respondents there to incurred or such portion thereof as the High Court may think fit;
(b) the High Court shall direct that the notice of withdrawal shall be published in the Official Gazette and in such other manner as it may specify and thereupon the notice shall be published accordingly;
(c) a person who might himself have been a petitioner may, within fourteen days of such publication, apply to be substituted as petitioner in place of the party withdrawing, and upon compliance with the conditions, if any, as to security, shall be entitled to be so substituted and to continue the proceedings upon such terms as the High Court may deem fit.]