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The Corporate Affairs Ministry has overhauled the “e-voting” norms, giving a further boost to shareholder democracy in the country.
Besides introducing the concept of cut-off date, the revised norms now stipulate that facility of e-voting had to remain open for three days and close at 5 pm preceding the date of general meeting.
Prior to this change, the e-voting facility had to be closed three days prior to the day of the general meeting.
The latest overhaul in e-voting norms notwithstanding, there is no clarity as to whether revised norms would be mandatory on listed companies or not, say experts.
“The quest for clarity in this regard seems to be near permanent. Any amendment to Companies Act/Rules impacting listed companies’ governance is fraught with vexed question of its applicability to listed companies”, S.N.Ananthasubramanian, practising Company Secretary and former President of Company Secretaries’ Institute said.
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Sai Venkateshwaran, Head of Accounting Advisory Services, KPMG in India, said that the revised norms stipulate that results of the e-voting should not be revealed till the entire voting process, including physical voting at the general meeting is completed.
“This brings sanctity and meaning to discussions and debate on resolutions in the general meeting”, he said.
Lalit Kumar, Partner, J Sagar Associates, a law firm, said the concept of cut-off date has been introduced.
The cut-off date cannot be earlier than 7 days from the date of the meeting to determine the list of shareholders who will be eligible to vote by e-voting. Earlier there was no such concept of cut off date, he said.
The new company law –enacted in 2013--had ushered in the concept of e-voting to ensure wider shareholder participation in the decision-making process in companies.
To enable companies to comprehend the new procedural requirements and to ensure better compliance, the Corporate Affairs Ministry had said e-voting would be optional till December.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry had in September last year formed a working group to examine and review the e-voting norms introduced under the new company law.
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