E-Voting for shareholders in India: The finer points explained

Companies have various resolutions that need to be passed by shareholders and necessarily require voting. Postal ballots are a common practice for voting by shareholders. Now, e-voting has been initiated which is voting through the internet where shareholders can vote for various resolutions using the e-voting mechanism.

NSDL has set-up all necessary infrastructure to facilitate shareholders to cast votes in electronic form through internet.

Should you have a demat account for e-voting?

The e-Voting System in India allows shareholders to vote without a demat account. This means if your having shares in the physical form, you are eligible for e-voting.

One needs to register for e-voting

Shareholders need to register at https://www.evoting.nsdl.com and download registration related information from the download section of the website.

It's important to remember that in case of joint holdings, only the first holder is recognised for the purpose of sending user ID & password for e-voting. Accordingly, the vote casted using the User ID and password sent to first holder is recognized on behalf of all the joint holders, as the shareholder who casts the vote through the e-Voting services of NSDL is doing so on behalf of all joint holders.

Another important feature to note, is that the time period that is available for e-Voting is the same as that of Postal Ballot. Hence, you may comply with those dates, accordingly. Also, once you have voted you cannot modify the vote.

Results

The results of the e-voting will be announced by the scrutinizer, who will first download and collate the votes casted by the shareholders through the e-Voting System. He will take note of the votes received and later declare the final results.

The ability to engage in e-voting offers several benefits. It ensures lower costs on postage, while also ensuring that the counting is transparent. Moreover, there is no need to store physical ballot papers and chances of your vote getting lost is almost impossible.

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