Section 55: Disciplinary proceedings

55. Disciplinary proceedings.— (1) An election official appointed or deputed to perform duties in connection with an election shall be deemed to be under the control, superintendence and discipline of the Commission for the period commencing on and from the date of appointment or deputation till publication of the name of the returned candidate in the official Gazette. (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law, the Commission may initiate and finalize disciplinary action and impose any penalty against any election official for any act of misconduct provided in the Efficiency and Discipline Rules as applicable to such election official or under any provision of misconduct under this Act, and for this purpose, the Commission shall be deemed to be the Competent Authority under the said Efficiency and Discipline Rules or this Act. (3) The Commission may, at any time, for reasons to be recorded in writing, suspend or withdraw any election official, a public servant or any other person in the service of Pakistan who— (a) obstructs, or prevents, or attempts to obstruct or prevent, the conduct of a fair and impartial poll; or (b) interferes or attempts to interfere with a voter when he casts his vote; or (c) influences or attempts to influence in any manner the polling staff or a voter; or (d) does any other act calculated to influence the result of the election; or (e) disobeys any order, or avoids to carry out any instruction issued by the Commission or any officer authorized to issue any order or instruction or violates any provision of this Act. 1[(4) The Commission may appoint Enquiry Officers or Enquiry Committee to initiate and finalize proceedings under the efficiency and discipline rules applicable to the election officials concerned against whom action has been taken by the Commission under sub-section (3) or other provisions of this Act or by the Returning Officer under sub-section (6) of section 54.] (5) The Enquiry Officer or Authorized Officer shall complete enquiry proceedings under the Efficiency and Discipline Rules as applicable to the election official concerned or under this Act within thirty days of the reference to him and shall submit the enquiry report to the Commission within seven days of the completion of the enquiry. (6) The Commission may impose any penalty provided in the Efficiency and Discipline Rules as applicable to the election official concerned or any penalty provided under this Act. (7) An election official aggrieved by a final order passed by the Commission may, within thirty days of receipt of the final order, file an appeal in the relevant Service Tribunal or other judicial forum. (8) Where the Commission suspends or withdraws any election official, it may appoint any other election official to perform the duty of the election official suspended or withdrawn. 1[(9) Apart from disciplinary proceedings, the Commission may also initiate criminal proceedings under section 188 read with section 184 against the concerned election officials, public servants or other persons in service of Pakistan mentioned in sub-section (3).]

Effective date: 2017-10-02

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