Section 6 in The Tamil Nadu Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Rules, 1991
6. Election of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the market committee.
(1)The election to the office of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman shall take place at a meeting of the members of the market committee convened for the purpose by the Director or any officer authorised by him in that behalf.(2)The Director or the person authorised by the Director shall be the Presiding Officer.(3)A candidate for the office of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman, as the case may be, must be proposed by one member and seconded by another. The names of all the candidates proposed and seconded shall be read out by the Presiding Officer of the meeting.(4)If there is only one duly proposed, he shall be declared to have been elected.(5)If there are two or more such candidates, the votes of the members present at the meeting shall be taken by secret ballot system.(6)Every member wishing to vote shall be supplied with a ballot paper containing the names of all candidates in Tamil and in English. Every ballot paper shall be signed on its back by the Presiding Officer before it is supplied to the member.(7)The ballot box shall be locked and sealed in the presence of the candidates immediately before the commencement of the election. The voter shall place a mark against the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, fold up the ballot paper and deposit it in a ballot box, placed before the Presiding Officer.(8)After the completion of the election, the Presiding Officer shall open the ballot box and count the votes and declare the member who secures the largest number of votes to have been elected as the Chairman or Vice-Chairman, as the case may be. In the event of there being an equality of votes among two or more candidates, the Presiding Officer shall draw lots and the person whose name is first drawn shall be declared to have been elected. Every candidate or one of his representatives shall be allowed to be present during the counting of votes or drawing the lots.(9)Any voting paper which contains the signature or any writing of the voter or on which the mark is placed against more than one name or the back side of which does not contain the signature of Presiding Officer shall be invalid.(10)Immediately after the counting of votes, the Presiding Officer shall publish in the office of the market committee, the name or names of the person or persons so elected.(11)After the election is over, the Presiding Officer shall hand-over the election records, including ballot papers to the Director under acknowledgment. The Director shall preserve the same for a period of one year from the date of election, if no election dispute arises or till the date of disposal of the election dispute, if an election dispute is raised.(12)The election records including the ballot papers shall be destroyed after the period specified in sub-rule (11).
