26. Amendment of section 35 of the principal enactment

Section 35 of the principal enactment as amended by Act, No. 25 of 1990, is hereby further amended by the repeal of subsection (1) of that section and the substitution therefor of the following subsection:—

“(1) (a) Where in the case of any electoral area, the returning officer finds at the expiry of the nomination period:—

that no nomination paper has been duly received on behalf of any recognized political party or independent group; or

that all the nomination papers received by him have been rejected or that the names of all the candidates appearing in such nomination paper have been removed from such nonination paper in terms of subsection (3) of section 31, as the case may be, the returning officer shall forthwith report to the elections officer of the district in which the area is situated the fact that no nomination papers have been received, or that all the nomination papers received by him have been rejected, or that the names of all the candidates appearing in any nomination paper have been removed from such nomination paper under subsection (3) of section 31, as the case may be.

The election officer shall, not later than seven days after the receipt of the report, publish a notice prescribing a further nomination period. The notice shall specify the period (hereinafter referred to as the “second nomination period”) during which the nomination papers are to be received by the returning officer at his office and all the provisions of this Ordinance shall thereupon apply.”.