6.3 Appointment, Power and Function of Returning Officer and its Subordinates,Polling/Presiding Officer

The hierarchy (the Act's-and-Rules' design): the Chief Returning Officer-and-ReturningOfficers — appointed by the EC (the practice: the seconded judges traditionally — the district- and-appellate judges' RO service, the administration's neutrality's signal; the current statutes' gazetted-officer-and-judge practice), one per constituency: the nomination's receipt-and-scrutiny (the candidacy's first adjudication — the symbol allotment's parent), the campaign's- and-code's local enforcement, the polling plan (the centres'-and-staffs' designation), the counting's conduct-and-the-result's declaration (the returning officer's certificate — the seat's birth), and the election-materials' custody. The subordinates: the Polling Officers-and-Presiding Officers (the EC's appointments from the government-and-teaching services' ranks — the polling station's own head: the identity's verification, the ballot's issue, the booth's order, the closing-and-sealing, the ballot-box's transmission; the polling officers' assistance), the electionassistants-and-clerks, and the security forces' coordination (under the polling officers' civilian command — the code's discipline). The accountability's line: all to the Commission (the Act's removal-and-replacement powers) — the EMB's chain of command from the CEC to the polling booth.