Section 58 in The Orissa Municipal Delimitation of Wards, Reservation of Seats and Conduct of Election Rules, 1994
58. Counting of ballot papers.
(1)The counting of votes shall commence on the day and at the place and hour fixed under Rule 24, votes shall counted by or under the supervision of the Election Officer and each candidate, the Election Agent of each candidate and one representative of each candidate, authorised in writing by the candidate shall have a right to be present at the time of counting. No other person shall be allowed to be present except such persons as the Election Officer may appoint to assist him in counting votes and no person shall be appointed to assist in counting the votes who has been employed by or on behalf of any candidate for any purpose whatsoever connected with election.(2)The Election Officer shall before he commences to count the votes read the provisions of Section 128 of the Representation of the people Act, 1951 to such person as may be present, and shall then proceed as follows :(a)Before any ballot box is opened at a counting table, the counting agents present at the table shall be allowed to inspect the paper seal or such other seal as might have been affixed thereon and to satisfy themselves that it is intact. The Election Officer shall satisfy himself that non of the ballot boxes has in fact been tampered with.(b)The ballot box or boxes and all envelopes which may have been received under Rule 52 for a particular ward shall be opened one after another. The Election Officer shall take out the ballot papers there from and count them in order of the serial number of names of candidates appearing in the ballot paper.(c)[ Ballot papers of a ward, where there are more than one polling booth, shall be mixed up in a separate container after verification of Ballot paper account of each such polling booth, before counting of votes.] [Inserted vide Notification No.7141, Legislative-I-26/95 H.U.D. Dated 7.3.96. O.G.E. No. 248 Dated 7.3.1996.](d)[] [Renumbered vide Notification No.7141, Legislative-I-26/95 H.U.D. Dated 7.3.96. O.G.E. No. 248 Dated 7.3.1996.] If any candidate or, in his absence, his Election Agent, before declaration of the result of election, requests in writing to the Election Officer to re-examine and recount the votes, the Election Officer shall upon such request re-examine and recount the same without delay, The Election Officer, may, however, re-examine and recount the votes suo motu either once or more than once in any case in which he is not satisfied as to the accuracy of any previous count:Provided that nothing in this clause shall make it obligatory on the Election Officer to re-examine or recount the same votes more than once.(3)(a)The Election Officer shall allow the candidates and their agents reasonable opportunities to inspect without handling all ballot papers which in his opinion are liable to be rejected. He shall endorse the word "rejected" on every ballot paper which is rejected. If any candidate or agent present questions the correctness of the rejection he shall also record on the ballot paper the grounds for the rejection.(b)Each ballot paper not rejected under Rule 59 shall be deemed as a valid vote and shall be counted as one valid vote.(c)The votes polled by each candidate shall be registered in Form No. XIX and any candidate or his agent after the result of election has been declared by the Election Officer under Rule 60, shall on application be permitted to take a copy of the return.(d)The valid ballot paper found in each ballot box shall thereafter be bundled together and kept along with the bundle of rejected ballot papers, if any found in that box, in a separate packet which shall be sealed and on which shall be recorded the name of the Municipality, Ward number and the date of counting.
