Section 231:

231. Scrutiny – Rejected ballot papers – Whether rejection must have been objected to at the count—On an election petition claiming the seat of a sitting member one of the headings contained an averment that the returning officer wrongly rejected certain ballot papers on the ground of uncertainty and that such rejection had been objected to. The petitioners sought the scrutiny of these ballot papers and also others rejected on the same ground where the rejection was not objected to. Objection was taken on the ground that there was no appeal from a decision of a returning officer rejecting a ballot paper unless such rejection was objected to at the count, and that the cases to be scrutinised were limited by the averment under that heading. HELD (i) the right to question by election petition the decision of the returning officer under regulation 40 of the Legislative Council Elections Regulations, 1958, with respect to the validity of a ballot paper rejected for uncertainty was not subject to a condition; (ii) the averment in the petition as it stood limited the scope of the enquiry prayed for to the class of cases specified therein. Rajan v Dahal (1959).