(1) There shall be a Presiding Officer and such number of Polling Officer or Officers for each polling station as the Municipal Returning Officer thinks necessary :
Provided that if a Polling Officer is absent from the polling station, the Presiding Officer may appoint any person who is present at the polling station, other than a person who has been employed by or on behalf of, or has been otherwise working for, a candidate in or about the election, to be the Polling Officer during the absence of the former officer, and inform the Municipal Returning Officer accordingly.
(2) A Polling Officer shall. if so directed by the Presiding Officer, perform all or any of the functions of a Presiding Officer, under this Act or the rules or the orders made thereunder.
(3) If the Presiding Officer, owing to illness or other unavoidable cause, is obliged to absent himself from the polling station, his functions shall be performed by such Polling Officer, as has been previously authorized by the Municipal Returning Officer to perform such functions during any such absence.
(4) Any reference in this Act to the Presiding Officer shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be deemed to include a reference to any person performing any functions which he is authorized to perform under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), as the case may be.
General duty of the Presiding Officer and Polling Officer.