(1) The Election Commission may appoint Returning Officers for every Gram Sabha/Panchayat Samiti/Zila Parishad; provided that every such person shall be an officer of the Government:
Provided that nothing in this rule shall prevent the Election Commission from designating or nominating or appointing the same person to be the returning officer for more than one ward, as the case may be.
(2) Assistant Returning Officer :
(1) The Election Commission may appoint one or more persons to assist any Returning Officer in the performance of his functions; provided that every such person shall be an officer of the Government;
(2) Every Assistant Returning officer shall subject to the control of the Returning Officer, be competent to perform all or any of the functions of the Returning Officer :
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Provided that no Assistant Returning Officer shall perform any of the functions of the Returning Officer, which relate to the scrutiny of a nomination, unless the Returning Officer is unavoidably prevented from performing the said functions:
(3) Reference in these Rules to the Returning Officer shall, unless the context, otherwise requires, be deemed to include an Assistant Returning officer performing any function, which he is authorized to take under the rules or perform under sub-rule (2) above.