Section 62: Scrutiny

62. Scrutiny.— (1) Any voter of a constituency may file objections to the candidature of a candidate of that constituency who has been nominated or whose name has been included in the party list submitted by a political party for election to an Assembly before the Returning Officer within the period specified by the Commission for the scrutiny of nomination papers of candidates contesting election to an Assembly. (2) The candidates, their election agents, the proposers and seconders and one other person authorized in this behalf by each candidate, and a voter who has filed an objection under sub-section (1), may attend the scrutiny of nomination papers, and the Returning Officer shall give them reasonable opportunity for examining all the nomination papers delivered to him under section 60. (3) A voter who has filed an objection to the candidature of a candidate shall only attend the scrutiny of the nomination paper of that candidate. (4) The Returning Officer shall, in the presence of the persons attending the scrutiny, examine the nomination papers and decide any objection raised by any such person to any candidature. (5) The Returning Officer may, for the purpose of scrutiny, require any, authority or organization, including a financial institution, to produce any document or record or to furnish any information as may be necessary to determine facts relating to an objection to the candidature of a candidate. (6) The Returning Officer shall not enquire into the correctness or validity of any entry in the electoral roll. (7) The Returning Officer while scrutinizing nomination paper of a candidate, shall not ask any question which— (a) has no nexus with the information supplied in the nomination paper; or (b) has not arisen from the objections raised by any person or from information received by him under this section. (8) The declaration submitted under sub-section (2) of section 60 shall only be questioned by the Returning Officer if there is tangible material to the contrary available on record. (9) Subject to this section, the Returning Officer may, on either of his own motion or upon an objection, conduct a summary enquiry and may reject a nomination paper if he is satisfied that— (a) the candidate is not qualified to be elected as a Member; (b) the proposer or the seconder is not qualified to subscribe to the nomination paper; (c) any provision of section 60 or section 61 has not been complied with or the candidate has submitted a declaration or statement which is false or incorrect in any material particular; or (d) the signature of the proposer or the seconder is not genuine: Provided that— (i) the rejection of a nomination paper shall not invalidate the nomination of a candidate by any other valid nomination paper; or (ii) the Returning Officer shall not reject a nomination paper on the ground of any defect which is not of a substantial nature and may allow any such defect to be remedied forthwith, including an error in regard to the name, serial number in the electoral roll or other particulars of the candidate or his proposer or seconder so as to bring them in conformity with the corresponding entries in the electoral roll. (10) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (9), where a candidate deposits any amount of loan, tax or government dues and utility expenses payable by him of which he is unaware at the time of filing of his nomination paper, such nomination paper shall not be rejected on the ground of default in payment of such loan, taxes or government dues and utility expenses. (11) The Returning Officer shall endorse on each nomination paper his decision accepting or rejecting it and shall, in the case of rejection or objection to acceptance, record brief reasons for his decision.

Effective date: 2017-10-02

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