(1) Unauthorized occupation of the polling station shall be considered in the following cases:-
(a) If any person takes possession of the polling station by force or by intimidation or threat, and influences the counting of votes,
(b) If someone does not allow the election officer or staff engaged in the counting of votes to perform their duties by force or not, or if they take away the ballot papers, ballot boxes or other materials related to the counting of votes in their charge, or by doing other similar acts, the counting of votes is not conducted in a fair and independent manner in a normal manner, or If affected beyond measure, or
(c) If any person involved in the counting of votes commits an act as per Clause (a) or (b) or if he assists or gives permission to do such act.
(2) In case of unauthorized occupation of the counting place according to sub-section (1), the election officer shall immediately suspend the work of counting the votes and submit the report to the Commission immediately.
(3) Upon receipt of the report as per sub-section (2), if the Commission deems that any investigation should be conducted in relation to such incident, the Commissioner or the monitoring team of the Commission may be appointed to conduct the investigation.
(4) If the commission determines that the polling station has been illegally occupied in accordance with subsection (1) on the basis of the report as per sub-section (2) or on the basis of the report of the commissioner or the monitoring team appointed to investigate as per sub-section (3), all the ballot papers of the polling stations affected by such occupation shall be declared invalid. can cancel the vote.
(5) In polling stations where polling has been canceled by the Commission according to sub-section (4), the election officer shall publish a notice specifying the place, date and time of re-polling.