(1)The Returning Officer shall attend for the purpose of counting the votes on such date or dates and at such time and place as may be appointed by him (rule 46).(2)Every candidate may be present in person or may send a representative, duly authorised by him in writing, to watch the process of counting.(3)The Returning Officer shall show all identification envelopes whether accepted or rejected to the candidates or their representatives for examination of the propriety of their acceptance or rejection and dispose of any objection taken to his decision in the manner prescribed in sub-rule (5).(4)The accepted identification envelopes will then be opened in the presence of the candidates or their representatives appearing under sub-rule (2) and the voting will be separated from their covers which will be kept aside from view and the Returning Officer will thereupon proceed to examine the voting papers to see whether they have been filled up correctly in respect of every requisite particular. He shall record his decision "rejected" on every voting paper which is found to be defective in any respect and indicate thereon with reference to rule 20 the ground of rejection very briefly. The remaining voting papers will be deemed as accepted. Each convenient batch of voting papers, whether accepted or rejected, will be presented to the candidates or their representatives present for examination of the Returning Officers decision.(5)If any objection is taken to his decision of acceptance or rejection of any identification envelopes or voting papers, such objection shall be decided at once by the Returning Officer, whose decision shall, subject to the provisions of rules 28 and 29, be final.(6)The Returning Officer shall separate or cause to be separated the accepted voting papers from those that have been rejected mid keep them in separate bundles. The identification envelopes originally rejected and those provisionally accepted when separated from their enclosed voting papers shall also be kept in separate bundles. All these bundles of voting papers and identification envelopes will be placed in safe custody for disposal under rule 24
