”The next elections to the Council and Regional Councils of the Institute will be held on 7th and 8thDecember, 2012 at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi/New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad,Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune and on 8th December, 2012 at all other places where pollingbooths have been set up. The members especially those who are new would, naturally, beinterested in knowing how the “single transferable vote” system under which the elections areheld operates. The broad details of the system are given below:-

(1) Each voter has only one vote for election to the Council and one vote for election to theRegional Council. The voter, in order to cast his vote, shall place on his ballot paper thenumber 1 (in Arabic or Roman numerals, or in words) against the name of the candidatefor whom he desires to vote, and may, in addition, place on his ballot paper the number 2,or numbers 2 and 3, or the numbers 2, 3 and  4 and so on opposite the names of othercandidates in the order of his preference. A voter has as many preferences as the totalnumber of candidates from that Regional Constituency/Regional Council. However, forthe purpose of facilitating the process of election by avoiding fractions, each valid vote isnotionally considered to be of the value of 100 so that if a part of the vote hassubsequently to be transferred from one candidate to another (next in the order ofpreference), it does not become necessary to resort to fractions, which would make thecounting cumbersome.

(2) At the time of counting of votes, the covers containing the postal ballot papers are openedand the voting papers are separated. To these are added the voting papers taken out fromthe ballot boxes used at different polling booths. The ballot papers are, in the first place,examined and invalid papers are rejected and excluded from the process of counting. Thetotal value of the valid votes is then calculated by multiplying the number of such votes by100, as mentioned above. This total value is then divided by the number of vacanciesincreased by one, and the quotient increased by one gives the value that is required forany candidate to get elected. This figure is termed as the “quota”. Thus, if in aconstituency, eight members are to be elected and there are 4,500 valid votes, the quotawill be:-

4500 x 100

---------------- + 1 = 50,001     

8 + 1

In other words, a candidate should get 50,001 votes to get elected. The addition of one tothe quotient is explained by the fact that if it is not done, there is a possibility that morecandidates may get elected than the number of vacancies.

The first Count

(3) After working out the “quota”, the votes are sorted out and divided into parcels accordingto the candidates for whom the first preference is marked on the respective votes. Thevalue of the first preference votes received by each candidate is then worked out and theprocess is known as the first count.

(4) All the candidates, the value of whose votes is equal to or greater than the quota, aredeclared elected. The votes of the candidates who obtain exactly the quota are set asideas there is no question of transfer of any surplus from those votes.Transfer of Surplus and Subsequent Counts

(5) Then starts the process of transfer of the surplus values of the votes of those candidateswho have secured more than the quota at the first count. Their cases are taken one byone in the strict order of the value of their votes, the largest surplus being dealt with first.In case no candidate obtains the quota in the first count, exclusion of candidates isresorted to (see para 12).

(6) The votes of the candidate whose surplus is to be transferred are scrutinized and all thosevotes which are capable of being transferred (viz., on which the next preference is markedfor a candidate, who has not already been elected, or if the next preference is marked foran elected candidate, the preference marked next to that and so on) are separated. Theremaining votes which are not capable of further transfer are set aside and treated asexhausted.

(7.1) Before the votes are transferred to the candidates marked next in preference, a new valueof each vote is worked out. This value is arrived at by dividing the total surplus of thecandidate by the number of votes to be transferred, the remainder being ignored, subjectto the condition that the new value does not exceed the original value at which the votewas received by the candidate whose surplus is being transferred (viz., 100 in the case offirst preference votes).

(7.2) Thus, if after the first count, a candidate has a surplus of 2,962 and there are 65 votes inhis parcel which are capable of being transferred, each vote will be transferred at the newvalue of (2,962÷65) 45.  The remainder of 37 [2962-(65x45 = 37)] is treated as loss invalue.

(8) The votes under transfer are then divided into parcels according to the candidates towhom they are to be transferred. The parcels of the transferred votes are also added assub-parcels to the parcels of original (viz., first preference) votes of the candidatesconcerned. The total value of the votes going to a particular candidate is obtained bymultiplying the new value of each vote by the number of votes going to him and is addedto the value of his original votes. The result of the transfer is then struck out and thecandidates who obtain at this stage the “quota” are also declared as elected.

(9) This process of transfer of the surpluses of the elected candidates continues till therequired number of candidates are elected or till all the surpluses have been dealt with.

(10) As already stated, the surpluses are transferred in the strict order of their value, but allsurpluses arising at an earlier count are disposed of before the surpluses arising atsubsequent counts are taken up.

(11) In the case of transfer of surplus of a candidate who was not elected at the first count butonly as a result of transfer of some votes to him at a subsequent count, since the surplusarises out of the last sub-parcel of his votes, it is only the last sub-parcel that is scrutinizedand the unexhausted votes contained therein which are capable of further transfer arerevalued, in the manner stated in para 7.1 and 7.2 above, and then transferred to thecandidates marked next in order of preference. If there is no vote in the last sub-parcelwhich is capable of further transfer, the whole of the surplus is treated as loss in value.Exclusion of Candidates

(12) When there is no surplus left for transfer and the number of candidates elected is lessthan the number of seats, the exclusion of candidates is resorted to. The process ofexclusion comprises the transfer of votes (both original and transferred) of the candidateto be excluded to the candidates marked next in order of preference and who have notalready been elected or excluded.

(13) The candidate, the value of whose votes is lowest at the time of exclusion, is firstexcluded.

(14) The parcels and the sub-parcels of the votes of the candidates to be excluded are taken upone by one in the order in which they were received and the votes contained in eachparcel and sub-parcel which are capable of further transfer are transferred to thecandidates marked next in order of preference at the same value at which they werereceived by him. Each parcel and sub-parcel is dealt with separately. It is only after theparcel and all the sub-parcels have been duly transferred that count is completed.

(15) If, as a result of transfer of votes of a parcel, or a sub-parcel, any other candidate securesthe quota and is elected, the count in progress is completed but no further votes aretransferred to the elected candidate from the subsequent sub-parcels. The followingexample would make it clear. Let us suppose that the votes of candidate “A” who is to beexcluded consist of the original parcel and two sub-parcels subsequently transferred tohim. Suppose as a result of the transfer of votes contained in the original parcel, anothercandidate “B” gets elected. Then the remaining two sub-parcels will be dealt with one byone but no vote there from will be transferred to candidates “B” and such of the votes aswould have normally gone to “B” will now be straightaway transferred to the candidatesmarked next to “B” in the order of preference on the respective votes.

(16) The process of exclusion continues till the requisite number of candidates has been electedor the number of candidates left in the field (i.e., the continuing candidates) is equal to thenumber of vacancies still unfilled.

(17) If, as a result of any exclusion, another candidate gets the quota and is thus elected, nofurther exclusion is done till the surplus of the elected candidate has been transferred andit becomes necessary thereafter to again resort to exclusion. In other words, a candidate isto be excluded only when there is no surplus to be transferred.

(18.1) If, at any time during the course of counting of votes, the number of candidates remainingin the field is reduced to the number of vacancies not yet filled, all those candidates aredeclared as elected without resorting to any further calculations.

(18.2) It, therefore, follows that a candidate may be elected even though he does not get therequired quota.

(19) If at a particular time only one vacancy is left unfilled and the value of votes (both originaland transferred) of anyone continuing candidate at that time exceeds the total value ofvotes of all the other candidates left in the field, including the surplus of any candidate notyet transferred, that candidate is declared as elected.

(20) When only one vacancy remains unfilled and there are only two candidates left in the fieldand the value of their votes is equal, then the one with lower value at the first count, or, incase of equality of values at the first count, also, the one with the lower value at theearliest count at which they had unequal values, is treated as excluded and the othercandidate is declared as elected. In case of equality of votes at all counts, one of them isexcluded by draw of lots and the other is declared as elected.

(ICAI.ORG)