Section 249: Essentials of valid nomination – Subscription of nomination paper—By

249. Essentials of valid nomination – Subscription of nomination paper—By section 44 (1) of the Representation of the People Ordinance, 1958 (now Act), elections to the Legislative Council are to be conducted in accordance with the regulations set out in the Second Schedule to the Ordinance. Regulation 7 (3) of these regulations, which deals with the manner in which candidates shall be nominated, provides that the nomination paper shall be in a prescribed form on which there is a space reserved for the insertion of the numbers assigned to the candidate’s nominators in the register of electors. The applicant, who, at the general election to be held on the 9 March 1958, was a candidate for election as member of the Legislative Council for the electoral area of Stanley, used the prescribed form for his nomination paper, but inserted therein wrong electoral numbers in respect of his nominators. The returning officer for the electoral area of Stanley held that his nomination paper was invalid and rejected it. The applicant moved the Supreme Court for an order directing the returning officer to insert his name on the list of candidates for the electoral area of Stanley. HELD the decision of the returning officer was correct and the effect of the mistake could not be remedied under sections 35 and 48 of the Representation of the People Ordinance, 1958 (now Act). Rault v Returning Officer for the Electoral Area of Stanley (1959).