5 Section 12 (1) (e) of The Electoral Commission Act, cancel the results of the said two polling stations. The results from the 15 polling stations were not included in the final tally because the envelopes from those polling stations did not contain DR Forms. The total number of the registered voters in 10 the 15 polling stations was 7,305. Section 50 (1) (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act provides that results from a polling station for purposes of declaring a result are not those in a polling box but the ones already counted and certified in a separate DR Form, sealed in an envelope at the polling station and dealt with. 15 The role of a returning officer is to tally the results from different polling stations from the DR Forms which are filled by the presiding officer. These forms are supposed to be sealed in an envelope but where they are unavailable; the returning officer has no option other than ascertaining them from the forms, this is as per Section 53 (3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act. 20 The returning officer did not produce the DR Forms for the 15 polling stations on the ground that they were not available; hence the only inference one can draw from this is that these forms were mysteriously tampered with which compromised safe keeping of electoral materials hence a noncompliance with the electoral law. 25 I now consider the effect of this non-compliance on the results of the election. Article 126 (2) (e) of the Ugandan Constitution, 1995 Provides that, 30 “In adjudicating cases of both civil and criminal nature, the courts shall subject to the law, apply the principle, among others, that substantive justice shall be administered without undue regard to technicalities”. 35 Section 61 (1) (a) of the Parliamentary Elections Act requires proof of substantial effect on the result of the election as one of the grounds of setting aside such an election. The effect of the non-compliance with the law must be substantial. 15