may, if he so desires, also affix his seal to it.
The PO will, in compliance with such instructions as may be given by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in this behalf, cause the packets, the statement of the count and the ballot paper account prepared by him to be sent to the RO together with such other records as it may direct.
The PO will count the votes immediately after the close of the poll in the presence of such of the contesting candidates, election agents and polling agents as may be present. He will give them reasonable facility of observing the count and give them such information with respect thereto as can be provided in consistent with the orderly conduct of the count and the discharge of his duties in connection therewith.
No person other than the PO, the polling officer, any other person on duty in connection with the poll, the contesting candidates, their election agents and polling agents will be present at the count.
The PO will open the used ballot box or ballot boxes and count the entire lot of ballot papers taken out therefrom; open the packet bearing the label challenged ballot papers and count them; count, in such manner as may be prescribed, the votes cast in favour of each contesting candidate excluding from the ballot papers which bear no official mark and signature of the PO; any writing or any mark other than the official mark, the signature of the PO and the prescribed mark or to which a piece of paper or any other object of any kind has been attached; no prescribed mark to indicate the contesting candidate for whom the elector has voted; or any mark from which it is not clear for whom the elector has voted.
A ballot paper will be deemed to have been marked in favour of a candidate if the whole or more than half of the area of the prescribed mark appears clearly within the space containing the name and symbol of that contestant and, where the prescribed mark is divided equally between two such spaces, the ballot paper shall be deemed invalid.
The PO may recount the votes of his own motion if he considers it necessary; or upon the request of a candidate or an election agent present if, in his opinion, the request is not unreasonable.
The valid ballot papers cast in favour of each candidate will be put in separate packets and each such packet will be sealed and will contain a certificate as to the number, both in letters and figures, of the ballot papers put in it and will also indicate the nature of the contents thereof, specifying the name and symbol of the contesting candidate to whom the packet relates.
The ballots excluded from the count will be put in a separate packet indicating the total number both in letters and figures of the papers.
The packets will be put in a principal packet, which will be sealed by the PO. The PO will, immediately after the count, prepare a statement of the count in such form as may be prescribed showing the number of valid votes polled by each contesting candidate and the ballot papers excluded from the count.