Sorting and counting of ballot papers
32.—(1)  Subject to section 32A of the Act, the Returning Officer or a person authorised by him shall —
(a)firstly, mix together —
(i)all ballot papers in the opened ballot boxes from all overseas polling stations; or
(ii)all ballot papers in the opened ballot boxes from each overseas polling station, without mixing ballot papers from any other overseas polling station; and
(b)secondly, unfold the ballot papers, sort and count the ballot papers, keeping the ballot papers with their faces upwards, taking all proper precautions for preventing any person from seeing the serial numbers printed on the back of the ballot papers.
(2)  Where the Returning Officer or a person authorised by him does not mix together all ballot papers from all overseas polling stations before counting, he shall immediately after the completion of the counting of votes cast at each overseas polling station, ascertain the total number of votes given to each candidate at the poll at all overseas polling stations, by adding up the number of votes counted for each candidate at each overseas polling station.
(3)  The Returning Officer shall so far as practicable proceed continuously with counting the votes and shall endorse “rejected” on any ballot paper which he may reject as invalid in accordance with section 33 of the Act.
[S 265/2017 wef 01/06/2017]
(4)  The Returning Officer shall not count the tendered ballot papers but shall place them in separate packets according to the candidate whom they support and shall mark each packet with the name of the candidate and shall seal the packet and retain it unless it is required for the purposes of an election petition.