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ELECTORAL LAW ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1962 - SECT 76

Time for presentation or amendment of parliamentary election petition.

76.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a
parliamentary election petition other than a petition complaining of no return
shall be presented within twenty-one days after the return of the member to
whose election the petition relates has been made to the Clerk of the Crown.

(2) If the petition questions the election or return upon an allegation of
corrupt practices and specifically alleges a payment of money or other reward
to have been made or promised by the member or on his account or with his
privity since the time of the said return in pursuance or in furtherance of
the alleged corrupt practice, it may be presented at any time within
twenty-eight days after the date of the alleged payment or promise, whether or
not any other petition against that person has been previously presented or
tried.

(3) A petition questioning the election or return upon an allegation of an
illegal practice may, so far as respects that illegal practice, be presented

(a)not later than the expiration of fourteen days after the day specified in
sub-section (4); or

(b)if specifically alleging a payment of money or some other act to have since
the day so specified been made or done by the member to whose election the
petition relates or an agent of his, or with the privity of that member or his
election agent, in pursuance or in furtherance of the alleged illegal
practice, within twenty-eight days after the date of the payment or other act
whether or not any other petition against that person has been previously
presented or tried.

(4) The said day is

(a)that on which the returning officer receives the return and declarations as
to election expenses made by the said member or his election agent; or

(b)where the return and declarations are received on different days, the last
of those days; or

(c)where there is an authorised excuse for failing to make the return and
declarations, the date of the allowance of the excuse, or if there was a
failure as regards two or more of them, and the excuse was allowed at
different times, the date of the allowance of the last excuse.

(5) An election petition presented within the time limited by sub-section (1)
or sub-section (2) may, for the purpose of questioning the election or return
upon an allegation of an illegal practice, be amended with the leave of the
High Court within the time within which a petition questioning the election
upon the allegation of that illegal practice could be presented under
sub-section (3).

(6) Sub-sections (3), (4) and (5) shall apply notwithstanding that the act
constituting the alleged illegal practice amounted to a corrupt practice and
shall apply to a corrupt practice under paragraph 7 of the Ninth Schedule as
if it were an illegal practice.

(7) For the purposes of this section, an allegation that an election is
avoided under section ninety-eight shall be deemed to be an allegation of
corrupt practices, notwithstanding that the offences alleged are or include
offences other than corrupt practices.

© 1962 Crown Copyright

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