82. (1) In this Part —

“continuing candidate” means any candidate not deemed to be elected and not excluded;

“count” means —

(a) all the operations involved in the counting of the first preferences recorded for candidates;

(b) all the operations involved in the transfer of the surplus of a candidate deemed to be elected;

(c) all the operations involved in the transfer of the votes of an excluded candidate; or

(d) all the operations involved in the transfer of the votes of two or more candidates excluded together;

“deemed to be elected” means deemed to be elected for the purpose of the counting of the votes but without prejudice to the declaration of the result of the poll;

“determine by lot” means determine in accordance with the following directions, namely, the names of the candidates concerned having been written on similar slips of paper, and the slips having been folded so as to prevent identification and mixed and drawn at random, the candidate or candidates shall in cases of exclusion be excluded in the order in which their names are drawn, and, in cases of surpluses, the surpluses shall be transferred in the order in which the names are drawn, and, in cases of equality of fractions, the fraction relating to the candidate whose name is first drawn shall be deemed to be the largest;

“non-transferable paper” means a ballot paper on which no second or subsequent preference is recorded for a continuing candidate; provided that a paper shall be deemed to have become a non-transferable paper whenever —

(a) the names of two or more candidates (whether continuing candidates or not) are marked with marks which, in the opinion of the returning officer, indicate the same order of preference and are next in order of preference; or

(b) the name of the candidate next in order of preference (whether a continuing candidate or not) is marked with a mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, does not follow consecutively after some other mark on the ballot paper, or with two or more marks; or

(c) it is void for uncertainty;

“original vote” in regard to any candidate means a vote derived from a ballot paper on which a first preference is recorded for that candidate;

“preference” shall be interpreted as follows—

(a) “first preference” means any mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a first preference;

“second preference” means any mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a second preference standing in succession to a first preference;

“third preference” means any mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a third preference standing in succession to a second preference and so on;

(b) “next available preference” means a preference which, in the opinion of the returning officer, is a second or subsequent preference recorded in consecutive order for a continuing candidate, the preferences next in order on the ballot paper for candidates already deemed to be elected or excluded being disregarded;

“surplus” means the number of votes by which the total number of the votes, original and transferred, credited to any candidate, exceeds the quota;

“transferable paper” means a ballot paper on which, following a first preference, a second or subsequent preference is recorded in consecutive numerical order for a continuing candidate;

“transferred vote” in regard to any candidate, means a vote derived from a ballot paper on which a second or subsequent preference is recorded for that candidate.

(2) Any ballot paper —

(a) which does not bear the official mark; or

(b) on which the figure 1 standing alone, or the word “one” or any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a first preference, is not placed at all or is not so placed as to indicate a first preference for some candidate; or

(c) on which the figure 1 standing alone indicating a first preference, or the word “one” or any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a first preference, is set opposite the name of more than one candidate; or

(d) on which anything is written or marked which, in the opinion of the returning officer, is calculated to identify the elector;

shall be invalid and not counted, but the ballot paper shall not be invalid by reason only of carrying the words “one”, “two”, “three” (and so on) or any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a preference or preferences.

(3) The returning officer shall endorse “rejected” on any ballot paper which under this rule is not to be counted. The returning officer shall prepare a statement in such form as may be directed by the Minister showing the number of ballot papers rejected under each of the subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph (2) and shall, on request, allow any candidate or agent of a candidate to copy such statement.

(4) The returning officer may endorse on any ballot paper which the officer does not reject as invalid an indication of the officer’s decision on it without, however, interfering with any mark placed by the elector on the ballot paper.