ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Thursday notified the Companies (Postal Ballot) Regulations, 2018 allowing shareholders and board members of companies to cast their votes through postal ballots.

The SECP has said that the companies would ensure that agenda items of polls are correctly uploaded in the web portal of e-voting service provider and would resolve any grievances of members to enable them to cast their votes through e-voting.

As the commission has repealed the Companies (E-Voting) Regulations, 2016, the new regulations related to e-voting require that companies have to maintain the record of email addresses and mobile phone numbers of members of their boards.

Under the regulations, if voting is required in a general meeting, the company will have to send complete information seven days ahead of the meeting to all members.

The information required to be forwarded includes web address, login details, password, date of casting e-vote and other necessary details to be sent through email and security codes through SMS from the web portal of e-voting service provider or electronic signature.

For the purposes of e-voting and related matters, a company shall appoint an e-voting service provider subject to the fulfilment of eligibility and other requirements specified under the regulations.

Those eligible as e-voting service providers include the central depository licensed under Securities Act, 2015, or a share registrar and ballotter registered under the Share Registrars and Ballotters Regulations, 2017.

An e-voting service provider must own a web portal and a secured system based on the process of display of electronic ballots, recording of votes of the members and the number of votes polled in favour or against along with text of the resolutions in such a manner that the entire voting exercised by way of electronic means accurately gets registered and counted in electronic registry in a centralised server with adequate cyber security.

The board of a company will approve the procedure for appointment of e-voting service provider in accordance with the regulations.

The e-voting facility will remain open for not less than three days and close at 5pm Pakistan standard time a day before the poll day.

The SECP has said that the identity of the members intending to cast vote through e-voting would be authenticated through electronic signature or authentication for login.

In case of voting through ballot paper, the company will, within three working days from the day of general meeting in which poll is demanded, publish ballot paper in the proscribed format in English and Urdu languages at least in one newspaper each of respective languages having nationwide circulation.

In case of foreign members and representatives of a body corporate, corporation and the federal government, acceptability of other identification documents in lieu of computerised national identity card will be approved by the board of a company.

The chairman of the general meeting will record the time and date of receipt of ballot papers, keep them in safe custody and ensure confidentiality of the result till it is formally announced after the conclusion of the voting in the meeting.

The decision of the chairman of the meeting regarding validity of the vote would be final.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018