(1) An election petition claiming a declaration mentioned in clause (a) of rule 45 shall abate upon the death of the returned candidate.
(2) An election petition shall abate upon the death of the sole petitioner or all the petitioners.
(3) If an election petition claims the declarations mentioned in clause (b) of rule 45 and the returned candidate dies, the tribunal shall cause notice of such event to be published in the official Gazette and thereupon any person who might have been a petitioner, may within fourteen days of the publication apply to be substituted in place of the returned candidate to oppose the petition and shall be entitled to continue the proceedings upon such terms as the tribunal may think fit;