Regulation 26A

After the final statement of the poll has been compiled in accordance with these Rules, the chief polling officer shall seal up all the polling papers and all other documents relating to that poll as required by these Rules in containers and shall, subject to this rule, retain the polling papers and documents unless the Minister otherwise directs their destruction.

Except as provided in paragraph (3), no person shall be allowed to inspect, copy or produce any polling paper or other document so sealed except for the purpose of instituting or maintaining a prosecution or any proceedings in connection with the poll.

The chief polling officer for a secondary poll relating to non-residential flats in a building may, for the purposes of conducting that secondary poll, in the presence of one or more scrutineers break the seals of the containers referred to in paragraph (1) and remove only the subsidiary register containing the names of registered owners of flats in that building.

In this rule, “Minister” includes —