PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 581
*Shri Barman : Let me make the position clear, from my personal experience. In my constituency, two districts are tagged together and the Divisional Commissioner is the Returning Officer. We have all along been submitting our nomination papers to the personal assistant. This has gone so for a very long time.
Dr. Ambedkar : If I Understand the hon. Member correctly, what the amendment means is this. In the Proviso as it stands, three functions can be performed by the Returning Officer, or the Assistant Returning Officer in the absence of the Returning Officer. They are : acceptance of nomination paper, scrutiny of nominations and the counting of votes. What my hon. friend wants by his amendment is that only two functions may be performed, that is scrutiny of nominations and counting of votes.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : The wording is, shall not perform these two unless the other is unavoidably absent.
Dr. Ambedkar : There is no such thing in amendment No. 284.
Shri Barman : I want elimination of that clause only.
Dr. Ambedkar : That is the sub-clause relating to acceptance of nomination paper and the rest will remain ?
Shri Santhanam : Both the Returning Officer and the other Assistant Returning Officer will be persona designata. That will be the result.
Shri Barman : So far as scrutiny and counting of votes are concerned, they are important and they should remain with the Returning Officer. In case he is unavoidably absent, some other Assistant Returning Officer may do them.
Dr. Ambedkar : There is a vast difference between the two sides.
Shri Barman : But, so far as acceptance of nomination paper is concerned, my submission is this. This filing of nomination papers goes on for days together. If the Returning
*P.D., Vol. 12, Part II, 15th May 1951, pp. 8784-86.