2025: Executive Council Elections for 2025-27 term

  Election officer : Rajanikant Trivedi  

2025: CHAPTER ELECTIONS for 2025-27 Term Chapter elections for Maharashtra, Mumbai, MP , Hyderabad and Bangalore chapters will be held in February-March 2025. Results will be declared on March 18th, 2025.

The names of the election officers are as follows.

ONLINE VOTING OVERVIEW: BIENNIAL ELECTION For the ISOLA Chapter Managing Committee

0. ELECTION CALENDAR

1. ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT AND INVITATION OF NOMINATION

Election process starts with a declaration of elections by the administrator. Once the elections are declared, members have the option of nominating candidates during the nomination period. Each Chapter Managing Committee will select an Election Officer.

2. NOMINATION, SECONDING AND ACCEPTANCE

To nominate someone, a valid member can login to the membership site at https://www.isola.smebusinesssoftware.com/login.html and access the ‘Election’ section through the relevant tab. Lapsed members cannot login to the site. The proposer has to be a member of the correct category (based on years since post-graduation) with valid membership even at the time of voting to be entitled to propose. The same holds good for the seconder. The nominee has to be good for the period of the term proposed, i.e. 2024-26. Only valid members’ names show up in the list of members that can be nominated or who can second. The proposer selects a person to nominate and a person to second the nomination. The Proposer can select from a list of valid members (Fellow and Associate members) a nominee for the Chapter Managing Committee. A person can nominate up to 5 persons. If a person has already been nominated, the name does not show up on the list. Once this is done, an email is sent to the nominee for his/her consent. If the consent is not received, the record is discarded. When consent is received, the seconder and the proposer both get emails to confirm the acceptance. The seconder then needs to second the nomination. Once this is done, another email is send to the nominee and the proposer confirming the seconding. Until all three have not confirmed acceptance through the website, the nomination is not complete. A person is considered a candidate only after accepting the nomination, and the nomination has been approved by the seconder as well. Nomination and Voting Eligibility Only Fellow and Associate members with valid membership can be nominated/ elected. Nomination data is visible to the administrator only during this process and not to all members.

3. LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF NOMINATION

By this date, all three steps of nomination, accepting and seconding must be complete. The nominee must upload a short bio-data, and a vision statement for ISOLA of not more than 100 words. This information will be visible to all members. The information should contain :

1. full name
2. date of passing M.L.Arch or B.Arch or equivalent examination as approved by ISOLA
3. whether in Private Practice/ working in the Government or private firms/working in Academic Field including period spent

Please mention if you are/ were a member of Executive Council, Local Organizing Committees etc. If so number of meetings attended of the total meetings held during your tenure.

4. SCRUTINY OF CANDIDATES & MAILING SCRUTINY REPORT TO CANDIDATES

Scrutiny by election officer of information sent by the administrator to ensure that –

1. Updated fees and updated registration of the candidate/ proposer / seconder as part of election scrutiny process has been checked. This will be done by the system but must be verified nonetheless.
2. The nominee has valid membership for the period of the term proposed, i.e. 2024-26.
3. All nominations are in order and information required is complete.

Incomplete information to be communicated to the relevant candidate to rectify/ upload. Scrutiny report to be emailed to Managing Committee by Election Officer.

5. LAST DATE OF WITHDRAWAL OF NOMINATIONS & LAST DATE OF RECEIVING OBJECTIONS

After this date, no changes will be permitted in the list of candidates. Eligibility to Vote Only valid members can vote. If your membership has lapsed, you can renew it and you regain your voting rights instantly.

6. E-VOTING

Nomination and Voting Eligibility

Executive Council Elections

Fellow and Associate members with valid membership can vote. Graduate members can vote but not stand for elections. All Fellow, Associate and Graduate members in good standing (valid membership) can cast 10 votes for the Executive Council- Seven (7) for electing Fellows, and Three (3) for electing Associates.

Voting Procedure

To vote, login to https://www.isola.smebusinesssoftware.com/login.html. Go to the ‘Elections’ tab. A member who logs in can see the election declaration details from the Elections option. Once the voting date starts, the member sees the Voting option. All the candidates in a category are shown when you click on the category (along with short bio and write-up, entered by the candidate). You can select/de-select any set of candidates as long as the number of selections is less than the number of positions in the category. Your vote is cast only when you click on ‘Confirm to Cast your vote’ and re-confirm it. Once cast, the vote cannot be accessed in any manner. An email will be sent to confirm the vote has been cast. Back Hand Data is accessible To Nobody. (Only No.s and Clicks). No programmer nor any other person will have visibility of backhand data beyond the secret ballot voting stage. No one has access to the data regarding votes cast including whom the votes have been cast for or by whom. Front Hand Data is accessible to Isola Election Officer, Administrator and Programmer. Proposer and seconder data will be accessible to the election officer and administrator on an excel sheet. The scrutiny process will be open to the election scrutineer while what will remain secret is only the final click while voting. Full Voting Page with Candidates Data available to registered members with login username and password. Voting data, counts of all votes cast only, will be visible to all/candidates after declaration of result.

7. ANNOUNCEMENT OF ELECTION RESULTS

Results are declared on the site on the date and time selected. An email is also generated for the entire membership, announcing the election result. In case of a tie, the system generates a result based on random selection. However, the system generates a list of total votes for each candidate. The declared winner will be at the discretion of the new EC (other elected members- 6 fellows +3 associates). From the date of results, the results are visible for a week. The anonymity of member’s ballots will be maintained by the programmer.

8. NEW EXECUTIVE COUNCIL TAKES OVER

All candidates are expected to be present at Ahmedabad on the third Friday of May (1st April, 2024) as successful candidates will form the new Executive Council for the new two-year term, on the same day at an Executive Council meeting. Present Executive Council will hand over charge to the new Executive. Council on the same day at Ahmedabad with the Election Officer present. The term of the Executive Council shall be two years. The Office Bearers are selected by the Elected Members. The Management of the affairs of the Society shall be vested in the Executive Council consisting of:

Elected Members

1. President
2. Vice President
3. Honorary Secretary
4. Honorary Treasurer
5. 3 Fellow Members
6. 3 Associate Members

Other Members

1. The immediate Past President
2. 1 Representative of each of the Local Chapters

Co-opted Members

1. Un elected members co-opted by the Executive Council.

WHY ONLINE VOTING

1. Part of e-governance for ISOLA- way forward
2. Transparency in procedures
3. Confidential system
4. Convenience – saves time & money for postal ballot/ less manpower
5. Larger participation among members
6. Candidates data & e-voting results on website
7. Initial cost for program for first term and thereafter only nominal recurring costs