Kuruppu V. Hettiarachchi, D.F.

1948 Present : Canekeratne J.
 
KURUPPU, Petitioner, and D. F. HETTIARACHCHI, et el.,
Respondents.
 
Election Petition No. 6 of 1947, Nivitigala.

Election petition-Objection to. ballot papers-Void for uncertainty-Duty of Returning Officer before declaring result-Decision final-Right to object on petition- Parliamentary Elections Order in Council, 1946-Section 49 (5).
 
Under the Parliamentary Elections Order in Council, 1946, a duty is cast on the Returning Officer to examine the ballot papers before he declares the result of the poll. When the Returning Officer looks at a ballot paper he is in an attitude of consciousness to it and if he has counted it as a vote a Court would, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, come to the conclusion that he has decided on the validity of the ballot paper : his decision is final under section 49 (5) of the Order in Council.

THIS was an election petition presented against the return of the 1st respondent as member for the Nivitigala Electoral District, at the election held on August 28, 1947.
 
N. E. Weerasooria, K.C., with E. B. Wickramanayake, Christie Sene-viratne, George Samaraivi

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