(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any rules made thereunder every election petition shall be decided by the prescribed authority within a period of six months from the date of its presentation under section 14 and at the conclusion of the hearing of an election petition, the prescribed authority shall make an order––
(a) dismissing the election petition ; or
(b) declaring the election of all or any of the returned candidates to be void ; or
(c) declaring the election of all or any of the returned candidates to be void and the petitioner and any other candidates to have been duly elected.
(2) If any person who has filed an election petition has, in addition to calling in question the election of the returned candidate, claimed declaration that he himself or any other candidate has been duly elected and the prescribed authority is of the opinion––
(a) that in fact the petitioner or such other candidate received a majority of the valid votes ; or
(b) that but for the vote obtained by the returned candidate the petitioner or such other candidate would have obtained a majority of the valid votes, the prescribed authority shall after declaring the election of the returned candidate to be void, declare the petitioner or such other candidate, as the case may, be, to have been duly elected.