253. (1) Immediately before giving a ballot-paper to any person entitled to vote at his polling-station, the deputy returning-officer must mark on the back of the counterfoil a number corresponding to that entered opposite the voter’s name in the poll-book and then the deputy returning-officer must put the initials of his surname and Christian names upon the back of the ballot-paper, in such a way that when the ballot-paper is folded his initials shall remain visible. Such initials must be put in a rectangle on the upper side of the back of the ballot-paper and near the dotted line separating it from its counterfoil.
(2) No deputy returning-officer shall initial a ballot-paper before the person for whom it is intended has been conceded the right to vote.
(3) The deputy returning-officer, speaking aloud, shall ask the voter to note that the ballot-paper that he hands to him is initialled and unmarked. If the deputy returning-officer does not do so, the poll-clerk or one of the agents may.