The Returning Officer shall appoint a Presiding Officer and such number of polling officers as may be necessary for the conduct of poll at each Polling Station. The Presiding Officer, shall in addition to other duties imposed upon him by these rules, be in general in-charge of all arrangements at the Polling Station and may issue orders as to the manner in which the persons shall be admitted to the Polling Station and for the maintenance of peace and order at or in the vicinity of the Polling Station. It shall be the duty of the Polling Officer and Polling Assistants at the Polling Station to assist the Presiding Officer of such station in the performance of his functioning.
Nothing shall prohibit first Polling Officer to act as Presiding Officer in case the Presiding Officer becomes all of sudden ill or unable to attend his duties due to unavoidable circumstances beyond his control or during temporary absence of the Presiding Officer, during hours of poll.