The official and only truly valid proxy form does not have check boxes and in fact only has instructions to delete whichever paragraph is not appropriate. If the paragraphs concerned weren’t deleted, then they are valid whether they are ticked or not.
Your strata manager is desperately clinging on and is doing so by misrepresenting the facts. I would be inviting him to resign before you ask Fair Trading and the Strata Commissioner to make a very public example of him. And if he doesn’t, I have the Strata Commissioner’s email address.