Section 69 in The Bihar Municipal Election Rules, 2007
69. Procedure before recording of votes.
(1)At any time before a ballot paper is delivered to an elector the Presiding Officer or Polling Officer may, of his own accord, if he has reason to doubt the identity of the elector or his right of vote at such station and shall, if so required by a candidate put to the elector the following questions:(i)are you the person enrolled as follows (reading the whole entry from the roll) ?(ii)have you already voted at the present election in this ward?(iii)have you already voted at this general election for any other ward of the municipality?And the elector shall not be supplied with a ballot paper if he refuses to answer any of the questions and unless he answers the first question in the affirmative, and the second and the third question in the negative.(2)Every elector who applies for a ballot paper or ballot papers for the purpose of voting at a Polling Station shall, before receiving such paper or papers allow-(a)the inspection of his left forefinger to the Presiding Officer or any Polling Officer; and(b)an indelible ink mark to be put on his left forefinger(3)If any such elector-(a)refuses to allow such inspection of his left forefinger; or(b)refuses to allow an indelible ink mark to be put on his left forefinger; or(c)persists in doing any act with a view to remove such mark after it has been put; he shall not be entitled to be supplied with any ballot paper or to record his vote at the election.(4)No person who has already such a mark on his left forefinger at the time he enters the Polling Station shall be supplied with any Ballot Paper.(5)Any reference in this Rule or sub-rule (2) to the left forefinger of an elector shall, in the case where the elector has his left forefinger missing, be construed as a reference to any other finger of his left hand, and shall, in the case where all the fingers of his left hand are missing, be construed as a reference to such extremity of his left or right arms as he proposes.(6)(i)The elector on entering the Polling Station shall first allow his left forefinger to be inspected by a Polling Officer for the purposes of ascertaining if he already has any mark of indelible ink on that finger. If there is no such mark, the Polling Officer in charge of the electoral roll shall ascertain the elector's name and address and such other particulars as appear on the roll and, after having checked these by reference to the roll, shall call out the number, name and description of the elector according to the entry in the roll. The Presiding Officer or Polling Officer in charge of the ballot papers shall then cause the left forefinger of the elector to be marked with indelible ink and shall thereafter deliver to the elector a ballot paper or requisite number of ballot papers having them stamped with distinguishing mark. The elector's number on the electoral roll shall be entered on the counterfoil of the ballot paper by the Presiding Officer or Polling Officer. A mark shall also be placed against the number of the elector in a copy of the electoral roll to denote that he has received a ballot paper but without showing any particular of the Ballot Paper which he has received.(ii)In deciding the right of a person to obtain a Ballot Paper for the purpose of voting at an election, the Presiding Officer may interpret any entry in the electoral roll so as to overlook merely clerical or printing errors, but shall record his reasons for doing so and the interpretation he has adopted on the counterfoil of the ballot paper issued to such person.
