Section 63 in The M.P. Nagarpalika Nirvachan Niyam, 1994
63. Election Duty Ballot.
(1)A person who is registered as a voter in a Municipality and by reason of his being deployed on election duty on the date of poll, is unable to vote at the polling station where he is entitled to vote, shall be known as a voter on election duty and his vote shall be recorded in the manner hereinafter provided.(2)A voter on election duty shall send an application in Form 19 to the Returning Officer so as to reach him at least seven days or such shorter period as the Returning Officer may allow, before the date of poll, and if the Returning Officer is satisfied that the applicant is a voter on election duty, he shall issue an election duty ballot paper (hereinafter called as E.D. ballot paper) to him.Explanation.-A polling agent, a Polling Officer, a Presiding Officer and any other public servant whom the Returning Officer regards as a voter on election duty shall be entitled to receive an E.D. ballot paper.(3)Every E.D. ballot paper shall have a counterfoil attached thereto and shall be in such form and shall have such particulars as may be determined by the Election Commission. The names of candidates shall be arranged on the E.D. ballot paper in the same order in which they appear in the list of contesting candidates and shall be in Hindi in the Devanagari script.(4)Alongwith the E.D. ballot paper, the Returning Officer shall also send or handover the following forms to applicant, viz.-(a)a small inner envelope (to keep the ballot paper in) in Form 19-A;(b)a large outer envelope, addressed to the Returning Officer in Form 19-B;(c)a declaration to be made by the voter, in Form 19-C;(d)instructions for guidance of the voter, in Form 19-D.(5)Every Officer under whose care or through whom the E.D. ballot paper is sent shall ensure its delivery to the addressee without delay.(6)The Returning Officer shall while issuing an E.D. ballot paper-(a)record on the counterfoil of the E.D. ballot paper the serial number of voter as entered in the marked copy of the voters' list for that polling station;(b)mark "E.D.B." against the name of the voter in the marked copy of the voters' list to indicate that an E.D. ballot paper has been issued to him and that he is not to be allowed to vote personally at the polling station. The serial number of the E.D. ballot paper issued to the voter shall, however, not be recorded on the marked copy of the voters' list.(7)The voter shall record his vote and despatch the E.D. ballot paper in the following manner, viz.-(a)the voter may record his vote by making a mark (like V or x) anywhere in the space allotted to the candidate for whom he wants to vote. There is no particular mark required to be made; any mark can be accepted as valid so long as the intention of the voter to vote for a particular candidate is clear beyond any reasonable doubt and the identity of the voter is not disclosed by such mark;(b)after making his vote on the E.D. ballot paper, the voter shall enclose the ballot paper in the smaller (inner) envelope in Form 19-A;(c)the voter shall then sign a declaration in Form 19-C in the presence of and have his signature attested by any one of the officers specified below to whose satisfaction he has been identified, viz.-(i)head of the office where he works, if he is a government servant or an employee of a Municipality or a Government, undertaking;(ii)any gazetted officer or the Presiding Officer of the polling station at which he is on election duty:(iii)any Revenue Officer not below the rank of a Naib Tehsildar;(iv)any such officer as may be notified in this behalf by the Election Commission.(d)the voter shall then place the smaller (inner) envelope in Form 19-A containing the E.D. ballot paper, alongwith the declaration in Form 19-C, in the larger (outer) envelope in Form 19-B; close the larger envelope and either hand it over to the Returning Officer personally or send it to him through a messenger or by post, so as to reach the latter before the hour fixed for the commencement of counting of votes.(8)If any envelope containing an election duty ballot paper is received by the Returning Officer after the expiry of the time fixed under clause (e) of Rule 21, he shall note thereon the date and lime of its receipt and shall keep all such covers together in a separate packet.(9)The Returning Officer shall keep in safe custody until the commencement of the counting of votes all envelopes containing election duty ballot papers received by him.(10)A voter against whose name "E.D.B." is marked in the marked copy of the voter's list, shall not be issued a ballot paper at a polling station.
