Meaning
Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting votes. … It may encompass a range of Internet services, from basic transmission of tabulated results to full-function online voting through common connectable household devices.
Applicability
As per rule 20(2) the provisions of e-voting are applicable to:-
Company having not less than 1000 members
OR
Company other than those referred to in chapter XB(Companies listed on SME exchange) or chapter XC(Companies listed on institutional trading platform without IPO) of ICDR regulations, 2009 and having its equity shares listed on a recognized stock exchange.
Due to change in applicability now following companies are out of ambit of e-voting:-
- Companies listed on regional stock exchanges.
- Companies having whose debenture/preference shares were only listed.
- Companies listed on SME trading platform.
- Companies listed on institutional trading platform.
E-Voting Period
The remote e-voting period shall be of minimum 3 days and end necessarily 1 day before the general meeting at 5:00 P.M. Once the vote on a resolution is cast by the member, he shall not be allowed to change it subsequently or cast the vote again.
At the end of the remote e-voting period, the facility shall forthwith be blocked, provided that if a company opts to provide the same electronic system as used during remote e-voting during the general meeting, the said facility shall be in operation till al the resolutions are considered and voted upon in the meeting and may be used for voting by the member attending the meeting and who have not exercised their right to vote through remote e-voting.
In order to avail the facility of e-Voting, the following procedure is to be followed by Issuer:
- The Issuer intending to avail the facility of e-Voting shall approach National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and sign the agreement with NSDL.
- After signing the agreement, the Issuer has to submit a letter, authorizing its Registrar & Transfer Agent (R & T Agent) to interact with NSDL for activities pertaining to e-Voting.
- Issuer/R & T Agent and Scrutinizer shall obtain a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC).
- User ID for Issuer/R & T Agent and Scrutinizer will be provided by NSDL. Issuer/R&T Agent and Scrutinizer are required to map its DSC.
- Issuer shall intimate NSDL about the resolutions it wishes to place for e-Voting for its respective shareholders. The Issuer will authorize its Registrar & Transfer Agent for uploading the data to the e-Voting platform on its behalf and performing all related activities.
- The Registrar & Transfer Agent shall upload the resolutions on the e-Voting website of NSDL.
- For every voting cycle, an EVEN (e-Voting Event Number) will be generated by the eVoting system.
- For every voting cycle, Issuer/ R & T Agent will upload a holding file on the e-Voting System. This will contain the holding information as well as the demographic information of shareholders. There are three types of shareholders namely:i) Shareholders registered with NSDL ii) Shareholders registered with CDSL iii) Shareholders holding shares in physical form After uploading the holding file on the e-Voting system, Issuer/ Registrar & Transfer Agent will be able to download a response file.
- e-Voting System will generate the User ID & Password for shareholders after validating the holding file uploaded by the Issuer/Registrar & Transfer Agent. NSDL will generate the user-ID and password for the shareholders. In respect of shareholders whose email IDs are provided by Issuer/R&T Agent, the user-ID and password will be emailed to the shareholders in a secure manner. For the remaining shareholders user-Id and password shall be provided to the Issuer/R&T Agent for printing and onward dispatch of pinmailers to shareholders.
- On or after the Voting Result date the scrutinizer shall authorize the voting and download the details of the voting results.
- Features of e-Voting System:-
(a). e-Voting System allows Issuer/ R & T Agent to modify the voting cycle.
(b). e-Voting System allows Issuer/ R & T Agent/ Scrutinizer to extend the voting cycle.
(c). e-Voting System has a provision for reset password for users.
(d). e-Voting System has an option for the shareholders to edit their mobile number or e-mail ID.
(e). e-Voting System allows Scrutinizer to view the details of voting viz; votes cast for, votes cast against.
DISCLAIMER: THE ARTICLE IS BASED ON THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS AND AS PER THE INFORMATION EXISTING AT THE TIME OF THE PREPARATION. IN NO EVENT I SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT AND INDIRECT RESULT FROM THIS ARTICLE. THIS IS ONLY A KNOWLEDGE SHARING INITIATIVE.
THE AUTHOR – CS DEEPAK SETH (ASSOCIATE PARTNER OF HELPINGHANDS PROFESSIONALS LLP) AND CAN BE REACHED AT [email protected] OR 9910248911.
Author Bio
Hi !
Nice elaborative article ,but I am bit confused between EVEN generation and Activation of it and handling of Evoting event .
what I undersdtood that , company need to sign up for evoting with NSDL/CDSL to onboard itself and then co need to authorise its RTA to handle evoting event for subsequent work like uploading benpos /modify/activate evoting cycle ,or it can be done by company itself because it can also get shareholder;s file on request on cut off date ? it will be helpful if it can be cleared .