(1)As soon as practicable after the closing of the poll, the presiding officer shall close the slit of the ballot box, and where the box does not contain any mechanical device for closing the slit, he shall seal up the slit and also allow any polling agent present to affix his seal.(2)The ballot box shall thereafter be sealed and secured.(3)Where it becomes necessary to use a second ballot box by reason of the first ballot box getting full, the first box shall be closed, sealed and secured as provided in sub-rules (1) and (2) before another ballot box is put into use.(4)The foregoing provisions of this rule shall not apply at a polling station to the presiding officer of which the Election Commission has issued a direction asking him to proceed in accordance with sub-rule (5).(5)At any such polling station, as soon as practicable after the close of poll, the presiding officer shall-(a)transfer all the ballot papers contained in the ballot box or boxes used at that polling station, without examining or counting them and with due regard to the secrecy of the ballot, into a cloth bag or cloth-lined cover after demonstrating to the polling agents present that the bag or cover is empty;(b)allow the polling agents present to inspect each ballot box and demonstrate to them that it has been emptied;(c)record on the bag or cover the name of the constituency, the name of the polling station and the date of the poll; and(d)seal the bag or cover and allow any polling agent present to affix his seal thereon.
