Procedure.
Section 176
SEC. 176. Procedure.— (a) Notice of the protest contesting the election of a candidate shall be served upon him by means of a summons at the post-office address stated in his certificate of candidacy, except when the protestee, without waiting for the summons, has made the court understand that he has been notified of the protest or has filed his answer thereto. (b) The protestee shall answer the protest within five days after being summoned or, in case there has been no summons, from the date of his appearance and in all cases before the commencement of the hearing of the protest. The answer shall deal only with the election in the precincts which are covered by the allegations of the protest. (c) Should the protestee desire to impugn the votes received by the protestant in other precincts, he shall file a counter-protest within the same period fixed for the answer, serving a copy thereof upon the protestant by registered mail or by personal delivery or through the sheriff. (d) The protestant shall answer the counter-protest within three days after notice. (e) If no answer shall be filed to the protest or to the counter-protest within the time limits respectively fixed, a general denial shall be deemed to have been entered. (f) In election contest proceedings, the registry list, as finally corrected by the board of inspectors, shall be conclusive in regard to the question as to who had the right to vote in said election. (g) The other defeated candidates-voted for may, within the time limit prescribed for the filing of the protest, intervene in the case as other contestants and ask for affirmative relief in their favor by a petition in intervention, which shall be considered as another protest, except that it shall be substantiated within the same proceedings. Their intervention in any other manner shall not be allowed. (C. A. 357-170)