24.—(1) Where it appears to the returning officer that a cancelled postal ballot paper has been placed—
(a)in a postal voters’ ballot box;
(b)in the receptacle for ballot paper envelopes; or
(c)a postal ballot box,
the CRO shall proceed as follows.
(2) The CRO shall, on at least one occasion on which a postal voters’ ballot box is opened in accordance with paragraph 19, also open any postal ballot box and the receptacle for ballot paper envelopes and—
(a)retrieve the cancelled ballot paper;
(b)show the ballot paper number on the cancelled ballot paper to the agents;
(c)retrieve the postal voting statement that relates to a cancelled ballot paper from the receptacle for postal voting statements (verification procedure);
(d)attach any cancelled postal ballot paper to the postal voting statement to which it relates;
(e)place the cancelled documents in a separate packet and deal with that packet in the manner provided for by paragraph 13(7); and
(f)unless the postal ballot box has been opened for the purposes of the counting of votes under rule 55 of the Scottish Parliamentary Election Rules, re-seal the postal ballot box in the presence of the agents.