Cabinet Executive Order 27th May 2021

Election Regulation Act, 2021

Act No 2 of 2021

[27th, May 2021]

An Act to lay the procedure for conducting the elections

Table of Contents

1] Section 1: Short Title and Definitions.

2] Section 2: Chief Election Commissioner.

3] Section 3: Election System

4] Section 4: The Election Procedure for WAD elections.

5] Section 5: The Election Procedure for Cabinet elections.

6] Section 6: The Election Procedure for Speaker and Chairman elections.

7] Section 7: Vacancies of Office and General Provisions.













1. Short Title and Denfitions.— (1) The Act shall be called as the 'Election Regulation Act, 2021'.

(2)This Act shall be a Constitutional Law.

(3) Election Commissioner shall be defined as an officer of the election commission.

(4) Chief Election Commissioner shall be the officer who shall lead the Election Commission in the elections.

(5) Office shall be defined as a position of authority or service.

(6) Candidate shall be defined as a citizen running for a particular office.

(7) PM shall be defined as a Private Message.

(8)This Act shall be a Constitutional Law.










2. Chief Election Commissioner.— (1) Whenever the position is vacant, the Election Commissioners shall determine which of them shall serve as Chief Election Commissioner and for how long.

(2) In the interim, the Election Commissioner with the longest tenure who is willing and not absent shall serve as Chief Election Commissioner until no longer Chief Election Commissioner is absent.

(3) The Chief Election Commissioner shall administer these rules, and use their discretion where no rules exist.

(4) The Chief Election Commissioner shall maintain a roster of current Election Commissioners, the date they began their tenure, and the date of their most recent oath of office.

(5) Any election-related disputes shall be arbitrated by the Chief Election Commissioner; should the dispute be on a matter of law, the Chief Election Commissioner shall refer it to the Supreme Court, the Chief Election Commissioner shall not finalize any election until all disputes have been settled.

(6)  The Chief Election Commissioner shall be responsible for the creation of election notices, the organization of election forums, the verification of candidate eligibility, the distribution and collection of ballots, and counting and verifying cast ballots.

(7) The Chief Election Commissioner shall have to leave office if:-
(a) The Parliament passes a resolution by a majority vote to remove the Chief Election Commissioner, or

(b) The Election Commissioners vote unanimously to remove the Chief Election Commissioner, or
(c) The Chief Election Commissioner resigns.














3. Election System— (1) Unless otherwise stated, elections held on the regional forums.

(2) Voters shall have the option to cast their vote using either a public or a secret ballot.

(3) The method of private voting shall be selected by the Election Commission.

(4) The method must utilize an unaffiliated account or server, with the method and all votes remaining available for audit.

(5) Named ballots are not to be released under any circumstances.

(6) Once cast, ballots in forum-based elections may not be altered by the admins.

(7) To be eligible to be included in a voting ballot, any candidate must post a campaign in an area designated by the Election Commission.

(8)The campaign must prominently include a truthful declaration of all potential conflicts of interest the candidate may have within and outside of India.

(9) A None of the above (NOTA) option must be included as a 'candidate'.

(10) If the candidates eligible to run for elections are more than 2 then voting shall be conducted via Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), or else via First Past the Post Voting (FPP)
(a) The form of IRV used must be Optional Preferential Voting (OPV); voters may vote for one or multiple candidates in descending order of preference.
(b) Should no candidate have an absolute majority once all votes have been counted then the candidate with the least number of votes shall be eliminated from the election.
(c) Should more than one candidate has the least number of votes, the candidate with the least number of votes on the next order of preference shall be eliminated. If their numbers of votes are still equal, both shall be eliminated.
(d) The votes of those voting for the eliminated candidate(s) will be reallocated based upon the expressed preferences or counted as NOTA if no further preferences are expressed.
(e) This process shall continue until a candidate has an absolute majority, should the final candidates have an equal number of votes when all have been allocated, the Elections Commission shall select a method of arbitration, if the method chosen involves chance, then an unaffiliated Discord bot in a public channel will be used to generate a result randomly using a coin toss or some similar set of pre-defined outcomes.

(11) The option to Re-Open Nominations must be included as a "candidate". If elected, the election process for that office shall restart at the nomination phase.

(12) Nominations for offices other than the one mentioned in this act shall open 2 days before the last officer was sworn in and shall be open for more 6 days.

(13) Campaigning for offices other than the one mentioned in this act shall be open for a week.

(14) Voting for offices other than the one mentioned in this act shall be open for a week and shall follow the format given in this section.

(15) Members of Jana Sabha and the People's Councillors shall be elected by the residents, however, the nominations shall be open only for Legislators of Lok Sabha.















4. The Election Procedure for WAD elections.— (1) The Chief Election Commissioner shall open nominations 2 days before the last WAD was sworn and inaugrated in office, the nominations shall be open for only 2 days.

(2) Once the end of the nominations happens then the Chief Election Commissioner shall create a week-long regional poll accessible to Native World Assembly members, instructing them to vote for their preferred candidate.

(3) A Dispatch containing the campaigns of all candidates shall be created to aid voters in their choice.

(4) Members of the Indian Armed Forces and the intelligence Department who are on deployment for the whole duration of the regional poll are eligible to cast a vote.
(a) The Minister of Defense shall provide a list of deployed personnel to the Chief Election Commissioner.
(b) Members on the list shall send the Chief Election Commissioner their vote through a telegram or a public post on the Regional Message Board which tags the Cheif Election Commissioner and notes who their vote goes towards shall have it added to the final tally.  
(c) The candidate who wins a majority of the votes will be declared the Delegate/Presidential-elect.
(d) If no candidate wins a majority of votes, the top two candidates will be placed in a runoff election, mimicking the previous round of voting.

(5) The Delegate-elect shall be considered formally inaugurated upon achieving the most endorsements. Prior to the inauguration, the sole responsibility of the Delegate-elect is to gather endorsements, in coordination with the incumbent Delegate and in cooperation with the People's Council. The incumbent shall continue to hold the office of the Delegate and shall remain responsible for all responsibilities of that office, serving out the remainder of their term, until the inauguration of the Delegate-elect.  
















5. The Election Procedure for Cabinet elections.— (1) The nominations of Cabinet shall open 2 days before the last Cabinet was sworn in their office.
(a) For the first 7 days of the election period, legislators of the Lok Sabha may declare their candidacy for only one position.
(b) Once the nominations close, a campaign period of one week shall start, where candidates may campaign and the Parliament shall debate the merits of their platforms.
(c)  After the week-long campaign period, a voting period of 3 days shall start. Legislators shall cast their ballots for each position, legislators may choose to abstain from voting for any or every office.

(2) The candidate for each position with the most votes shall be declared the Minister-elect by the Election Commission.

(3) The terms for the incoming Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers shall begin the week after elections, during which any and all election-related disputes must be settled. the outgoing Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers shall maintain their offices until then.
















6. The election procedure for the Office of the Speaker and Chairman.— (1) The nominations shall begin 3 days before the last Speaker and Chairman was sworn in their office.
(a) Any legislator wishing to run for Speaker or Chairman of their house may declare their candidacy, and the Parliament shall debate the merits of their platform.
(b) The campaign and debate period shall last 5 days, after which the Parliament shall vote for 3 days.

(2) The voting for the Chair shall be conducted using Approval Voting.
(a) Voters may vote for as many candidates as they approve of, or vote for none by voting to Re-Open Nominations.
(b) The candidate with the highest percentage of approval shall be elected.
(c) If the winning candidate received less than 50% approval, the option to Re-Open Nominations shall be "elected".

(3) The term for the incoming Chair shall begin immediately following the conclusion of the election with a oath of office.
















8. Vacancies of Office and general provisions.— (1) A special election shall be held for vacancies arising within the Cabinet, if more than half of the term remains. If less than half of the term remains, or the position is vacant due to nobody running in its election, the Cabinet may appoint a replacement until the next regularly scheduled election.

(2) Should the office of the Delegate become vacant, the next person in the line of succession shall become the interim Delegate until the next regularly scheduled election. If no person qualifies for office, then a special election shall be held.

(3) A special election shall be held for the vacancy of a member's seat in Jana Sabha.

(4) It is permitted to seek election or appointment to a new office while holding an existing office.

(5) Election or appointment to a new office constitutes explicit resignation of an existing office.

(6) No person holding a Cabinet office or the office of the Delegate may hold any equivalent office in a foreign region or organisation.

(7) The Offices mentioned under this section include the President, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Speaker of Jana Sabha, People's Councillors, the Chief Justice, and any of their appointed deputies.