Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959

63K. Hours of polling

(1) Every polling booth shall be kept open on the day or days appointed for recording of votes from 8.30 hours to 18.30 hours.

(2) If the polling at any polling booth cannot take place on the day or days appointed for recording of votes, or is interrupted or obstructed for any sufficient cause, or the ballot box used at a booth is tampered with or is accidentally or deliberately destroyed, lost or damaged, the polling officer or the Secretary, as the case may be, may adjourn the polling to a subsequent date, or the Secretary may declare the polling at the booth void and decide to have a fresh polling, respectively.

(3) If a polling is adjourned or declared void under sub-regulation (2), the Secretary shall, as soon as may be possible, appoint the place where the polling shall be subsequently conducted and the time, date or dates, as the case may be, for the said polling booth. Also he shall not proceed with counting of votes relating to the election in a constituency, until the polling at all the polling booths in that constituency has been completed.

(4) The place, date or dates and the time of polling appointed under sub-regulation (3) shall be notified individually to the candidates and to the voters concerned.

(5) The polling officer shall close the polling booth at the end of the day, or if the polling is for more than one day, at the end of each day, at the hour appointed under sub-regulation (1) and no voter shall be admitted thereto after that hour:

PROVIDED that all voters present within polling booth before it is closed, shall be entitled to have their votes recorded:

PROVIDED FURTHER that where the number of voters within a radius of eight kilometers at any polling booth exceeds 300, the polling booth shall be kept open for two consecutive days during the same timings as mentioned in sub-regulation (1).

(6) The polling officer shall, as soon as practicable after the close of the poll or after its close on each day if the polling is for more than one day, in the presence of any candidates or their authorized representatives who may be present, seal the ballot box within his own seal and the sales of such candidates or authorized representatives as may desire to affix their seals thereon. He shall also make separate packets of:

(i) the unused ballot papers;

(ii) the returned ballot papers;

(iii) the marked copy of the list of members eligible to vote; and

(iv) any other paper directed by the Secretary to be kept in a sealed cover;

and seal each such packet with his own seal and the seals of such candidates or authorized representatives as may desire to affix their seals thereon. He shall arrange for the safe custody of the ballot box and such packets.

(7) Before commencement of polling on the second day, wherever the polling is to take place for more than one day, the polling officer shall, after the seals on the ballot box and packets referred to in sub-regulation (6) are examined by him and by the candidates or their authorized representatives who may be present, remove in their presence the seals on the ballot box and packets for use during the course of that day.

(8) The ballot box and packets referred to in sub-regulation (6) shall be accompanied by an account of ballot papers showing the total number of ballot papers received, issued, unissued and returned, as also the number of ballot papers which should be found in the ballot box. This account shall be forwarded to the Secretary by the polling officer.

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