Madam/Dear Sir,

The President, in terms of the authority given to him by the Council at its 314th meeting held from 10th to 12th February, 2012, has constituted a Group, comprising of the following members, to examine the matter of introduction of Electronic Voting including electronic counting at the forthcoming elections to the Council and Regional Councils and make its recommendations:

• CA. Atul C. Bheda, Mumbai (Convenor)
• CA. M. Devaraja Reddy, Hyderabad
• CA. Sumantra Guha, Kolkata
• CA. Vijay Kumar Garg, Jaipur
• CA. Charanjot Singh Nanda, New Delhi

Shri Rajanikant Verma, Secretary, Committee on Information Technology would act as Secretary to the aforesaid Group.

In this regard, it is stated that Rule 19(3) of the Chartered Accountants (Election to the Council) Rules, 2006 inter-alia provides for recording of votes through voting machines or internet in such manner as may be determined by the Council and with the approval of Central Government. The approval of Central Government in this regard is required to be obtained prior to publication of notification in the Gazette of India required under Rule 4(2) of the afore-mentioned Rules. The said notification is required to be published at least 3 months prior to the date(s) of elections (which are 7th and 8th December, 2012) i.e. by first week of September, 2012. Hence, it is proposed to crystalise the issues involved, alongwith the recommendations of the Executive Committee and thereafter, place before the Council at its meeting scheduled to be held in Goa from 13th to 15th August, 2012. The Group may accordingly devise its work plan and submit its report in a timely manner.