Section 81 in The Bihar Municipal Election Rules, 2007
81. Procedure to be followed at the counting of votes.
- On the date and at the time and place appointed under Rule 79 the Returning Officer shall before he commences to count the votes, call upon such persons as may be required to maintain the purity of the counting. He shall, then proceed as follows-(a)All the ballot boxes placed for the counting of votes shall be counted and checked and the Returning Officer shall satisfy himself that all such ballot boxes as contain the ballot papers which are to be counted at such place have been received and accounted for.(b)The Returning Officer shall then allow the candidates or their Election Agents and Counting Agents present at the counting an opportunity to inspect the ballot boxes and their seals for satisfying themselves that they are in order,(c)The Returning Officer shall also satisfy himself that none of the boxes has in fact been tampered with. If any ballot box is found by the Returning Officer to have been tampered with or destroyed or lost the Returning Officer shall postpone the counting of votes and shall with the approval of the State Election Commission appoint a date for taking of a fresh poll in that ward. After the fresh poll has been completed he shall recommence the counting on the date and at the time and place appointed by him in this behalf of which notice has been previously given to the candidates and their counting agents.(d)If the Returning Officer is satisfied that all such ballot boxes as contain ballot papers which are to be counted at such place have been received and are in order, he shall take up the counting of ballot papers contained in the ballot boxes used at the Polling Station in their serial ; number.(e)As each ballot box is opened for counting, the mark or marks made on the box or in any of its component parts or attachments Shall be checked. Thereafter the ballot papers shall be taken out from the box and arranged in convenient bundles and counted with the aid of persons appointed to assist in the counting of votes. An account of the Ballot Paper found in each box shall be recorded in a statement in Form 24(a).(f)Returning Officer shall allow the candidates and their election agents and counting agents who may be present reasonable opportunity to inspect all ballot papers, which in the opinion of the Returning Officer are liable to be rejected but shall not allow them to handle those or any other ballot papers. The Returning Officer shall, on every ballot paper which is rejected endorse the word "Rejected". If any candidate or his election or counting agent questions the correctness of the order of rejection of any ballot paper, the Returning Officer shall also record briefly on such ballot paper the ground of its rejection. All ballot papers rejected shall be bundled together.(g)(i)Every ballot paper which is not rejected shall be counted as one valid vote:Provided that no cover containing tendered ballot papers shall be opened and no such paper shall be counted.(ii)After the counting of all ballot papers contained in all the ballot boxes used at a polling station has been completed, the Returning Officer shall make the entries in a result sheet in Form 24(b) and announce the particulars.(h)The valid ballot papers of each candidate and the rejected ballot papers shall thereafter be bundled separately and the several bundles made up into a separate packet which shall be sealed with the seals of the Returning Officer and such of the candidates, their election agents or counting agents, if any, as may desire to affix their seals thereon and on the packets, so sealed, and the following particulars shall be recorded therein, namely(i)the name of the ward;(ii)the particulars of the polling station where the ballot papers have been used, and(iii)the date of counting.
