PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 583
counting of votes, he must be satisfied that the Returning Officer is unavoidably prevented. Let not the Assistant Returning Officer but in and exercise the functions of the Returning Officer which are of a more onerous nature. For receiving nomination papers, simultaneously he can receive. Suppose the Collector is the Returning Officer. The Deputy Collector who may be the Assistant Returning Officer will say, the collector is there and he will receive. That would normally happen. This appears to be reasonable. I leave it to the Hon. Minister.
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Dr. Ambedkar : No change in the proviso is necessary. As we know, a lot of gol-mal takes place.
Shri Bharati : We would like to know what acceptance means really. Does it mean merely receiving the nomination or the final acceptance of it, which implies final rejection also in some cases ?
Mr. Deputy Speaker : It merely means scrutiny immediately at the first stage and receiving it. It is not the final acceptance.
*Clause 22. —( General duty of the Returning Officer )
Shri Naziruddin Ahmad : I beg to move :
In clause 22, for “It shall be the general duty” substitute “It shall be the duty”.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : There is a presiding officer at a polling station and it is the special duty of the polling officer to receive papers. Likewise those are special duties. It is the general duty of the Returning Officer to arrange for these.
Shri Naziruddin Ahmad : If we say “It shall be the duty” of the officer, it will be general duty.
Dr. Ambedkar : I do not think that any harm can arise by the retention of the word ‘general’. I have examined the matter and have seen that this clause is an exact verbatim reproduction of the English law. That also contains ‘general’.
*P. D., Vol. 12, Part II, 15th May 1951, pp. 8790-91.