home buyers evoting under IBC - Right2Vote

Home buyers eVoting under IBC

Overview

Lot of real estate project in India have gone bankrupt in the last decade and hence went into insolvency. These projects are spread across the country specially more so in National Capital Region (NCR). With the bankruptcy of such projects, the home buyers in such project are badly impacted. The home buyers generally invest their life time of saving and top it up with additional loan to buy a house. The loan amount is generally in crores and loan term as long as 15 to 30 years. If a housing project goes bankrupt, the home buyer does not get the home to live in and he is burdened to pay the housing loan principal and interest to the bank. It is a double whammy for him. To protect the interest of such home buyers IBC and IBBI came into being.

IBC and IBBI

Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 rules regarding the insolvency process for such companies are provided. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has been established under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 for implementation of the Code that consolidates and amends the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time bound manner. The aim and objective of IBBI is to maximize the value of assets of such persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders. Here the stakeholder includes home buyers who are creditors to the company and also referred to as creditors in a class.

Need for voting

To run the insolvency process of such bankrupt real estate company an Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) is appointed by the court and the creditors. The IRP is expected to take charge of the company, run it in the best possible manner possible, complete the construction of the real estate project, work out the pending claims of each stakeholders including the home buyers and work out the best possible resolution for each stakeholder.

In such cases each class of stakeholders might have different interests and needs. As number of home buyers are large it is not possible to have all the home buyers in the Committee of Creditors (CoC) meeting and it is best to have an Authorised Representative (AR) representing them in the CoC meeting.

The AR represents the home buyers in the CoC meeting. To be able to represent home buyers in the CoC meeting, the AR need to know the opinion of home buyers on all matters and resolutions. As number of home buyers are large, face to face meeting and opinion gathering is difficult, inefficient and unscientific. Hence eVoting is conducted among the home buyers on all resolutions and based on the voting results of home buyers voting, the AR votes on their behalf in the CoC meeting.

Types of evoting under IBC

Generally, eVoting under IBC is required for following kinds of voting:

  1. eVoting for Committee of Creditors (CoC) voting
  2. eVoting for Creditors in a class
  3. eVoting for Stakeholder Consultation Committee (SCC) voting

Under Creditors in a class there can be different kinds of class:

  1. Homebuyers in a class
  2. Unsecured creditors in a class
  3. Operational creditors in a class
  4. Debenture holders in a class

Rules of eVoting under IBC for creditors in a class has similar rules. The most common type of creditors in a class voting is home buyers voting. Here, we will detail out eVoting under IBC for homebuyers in a class.

Points to be kept in mind for home buyers eVoting under IBC

Disclaimer:Right2Vote is an online voting platform and not a qualified legal advisor. Kindly consult qualified legal advisors for better understanding of the law and process relating to CoC meeting and eVoting of home buyers under IBC. The below text is only for guidance purpose based on our limited understanding. The law keeps on changing and evolving. You are requested to consult and confirm with a qualified lawyer and use this for guidance only.

  • Each creditor in the class / home buyers should be provided right to vote.
  • In such voting, all voters do not have equal vote. Vote share of each voter or home buyer is determined on the basis of amount outstanding.
  • The appointed Resolution Professional (IRP) / Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) / Resolution Professional (RP) is responsible to collect the claim forms of each claimant and prepare the list of voters. The voter list should include Name of the home buyer, his unique unit number, his admitted claim amount, his mobile number and his email ID.
  • Vote share of each home buyer in the class is calculated by dividing the accepted claim of the individual home buyer by total claims of all the home buyers in that class.
  • IRP / RP is supposed to share the resolutions to be discussed in the CoC meeting and home buyer voter list with the AR so that AR can conduct the eVoting amongst home buyers and collect their opinion before coming to the CoC meeting.
  • If the AR for home buyers is not appointed yet, the IRP / RP is responsible to have an eVoting amongst the home buyers to appoint the AR. IRP / RP can list possible candidates for AR post based on inputs from home buyers, directions from the court and based on his own professional judgement.
  • Till the time AR is appointed, the IRP / RP continues to carry on the responsibility of the AR also including responsibility of conducting eVoting among the home buyers.
  • AR is supposed to inform the home buyers about the voting event at least 24 hours in advance.
  • AR should keep the voting window open for minimum 12 hours so that all home buyers can exercise their right to vote. However, we recommend to keep it open for minimum 24 hours so that home buyers in different time zones, if any, can also participate.
  • In home buyers voting or voting of creditors in a class, the voters who have not voted is ignored and resolution is accepted or rejected based on voting percentage in favour of the resolution. Please note this is different from CoC voting where if the CoC member does not vote, his vote is counted as negative vote.
  • For regular resolutions more than 50% in favour voters are required. For special resolutions the requirement is generally 66%.
  • AR is supposed to vote in the CoC as an authorised representative of home buyer based on the voting result of home buyer voting. AR is not authorised to vote in deviance of the result of home buyer voting.
  • Generally eVoting is held twice for home buyers – once before the CoC meeting and once after the CoC meeting. Before the CoC meeting the AR conducts the eVoting to get indicative opinion and understand the opinion of the home buyers so that he can accordingly put their views across in the meeting. After the meeting the final voting is conducted after the circulation of resolution. The final results of the voting from the home buyers voting conducted after circulation of minutes of CoC meeting is to be used by the AR to vote in the CoC eVoting.

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Features recommended for eVoting of home buyers under IBC

Audit Trail: With AUDIT TRAIL feature, the system records IP address and time of voting of each and every home buyer. This helps in maintaining an audit trail and is useful in case of any dispute.

Voter Recipt: Each voter is sent a VOTER RECEIPT on his email. The receipt mentions the choice selected by the home buyer.

Allow vote change: ALLOW VOTE CHANGE feature allows the voter to change his vote any time before the close of voting. This feature is an additional feature for the home buyers to use in case they change their opinion after reading the minutes of the meeting or for some other reason.

Weighted votes: WEIGHTED VOTES is a very useful feature for eVoting under IBC for home buyer voting. Unlike normal voting where each voter has one vote, in home buyers voting under IBC, the vote share is determined on the basis of outstanding amount of each home buyer. With this feature, the result is automatically calculated after taking into account the respective vote share of each home buyer. This saves lot of time and effort for the AR and the IRP / RP.

Multiple votes – Limited: In home buyers voting, many a time there are home buyers who own more than one property. Unlike normal voting where one voter has only one vote, such home buyers are eligible to vote separately for each property. Right2Vote provides a “multiple votes – limited” feature specifically for this purpose. With the same email ID, the eligible home buyer need to login only once and he can vote for all his property individually for at once based on his own preference. In the result, his vote preference for each property will show separately.

OTP based authentication: OTP BASED AUTHENTICATION feature ensures that only the authorised voter is able to vote. In case of home buyer voting, the house might be in name of multiple people from the same family. Generally, only the first owner is supposed to vote. However, OTP based authentication ensures that only the authorised voter is able to vote and nobody else is able to access or vote.

Time extension: TIME EXTENSION feature is very useful in case of home buyers voting under IBC. For various reason including court instructions at times the voting duration has to be extended. Right2Vote offers free time extension feature where insolvency professional can extent the time of the poll multiple times free of charge.

Reminders: REMINDERS features allow the Authorised Representative (AR) to send automated reminders to member of creditors in the class – home buyers, who have not yet exercised their right to vote. The reminder only goes to voters who have not voted yet. AR can send up to three reminders free of cost in Right2Vote online voting platform.

Detailed results in PDF and excel format:Right2Vote provide the result of the eVoting in both PDF and excel format. The PDF format gives the synopsis of the result with Right2Vote watermark. The PDF format is useful for circulation among home buyers (only if required), RP/IRP and for submission to court / NCLT. Right2Vote also provides result in excel format where audit trail details like IP address and time of voting is also available. This is to be used for audit purpose. As eVoting under IBC does not require SECRET BALLOT feature, the details excel result also provides individual home buyer voter vote preference.

Benefits of using Right2Vote eVoting platform for home buyer voting

Right2Vote is the best eVoting platform for IBC voting and more so for home buyer voting. There are several benefits of using Right2Vote platform for Insolvency and bankruptcy matters. These include:

Tested, certified and approved by Government of India: Right2Vote’s eVoting software is tested and certified by Standardization, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. Right2Vote is also an approved eVoting agency of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India. As eVoting results need to presented in the court / NCLT, it is always better to use a government of India certified platform.

Right2Vote’s 24*7*365 DIY platform & responsive support team: Right2Vote’s eVoting platform is very easy to use and intuitive DO IT YOURSELF (DIY) platform. AR / IRP / RP and their team can set up polls in the platform at any time of the day and setting up the poll does not take more than 15 minutes. Right2Vote support team is also very responsive and set up polls for the clients on short notice. Many a times during emergency, clients ask Right2Vote’s team to set up poll on 5-minute notice and Right2Vote team executes it without any delay. No other eVoting platform in India or abroad can match the responsiveness of Right2Vote’s support team.

Cost Effective: Right2Vote is the most cost-effective platform for home buyer eVoting under IBC. Right2Vote charges only Rs. 25 /home buyer subject to minimum Rs. 5000 + GST for home buyer eVoting. Right2Vote also does not charge extra for long duration or for time extension in case of home buyer eVoting under IBC.

Time and effort saving:Conducting home buyers eVoting using Right2Vote’s online voting technology saves lot of time and effort for the AR and the RP / IRP. From setting up the poll, to sending invite, sending reminders, home buyers authentication, vote recording, calculating results – everything is done by the system automatically saving lot of time and effort for AR / RP / IRP. This enables busy AR / RP / IRPs to focus their energies and resources on other important and urgent matters.

Convenience for home buyers leading to better participation: Home buyers are spread across the country and abroad. It is not possible for them to attend all meeting of home buyers or physically visit the AR office for voting on all matters. Online voting enables home buyers to vote anytime from anywhere. This not only saves time and effort of the home buyers but also lead to better participation and higher voter turnout in voting.

Security and transparency: Right2Vote’s eVoting platform is not only secured with encryption, OTP based authentication and other features but is also very transparent with features like audit trail, voter receipt and vote record.

Feature rich: Right2Vote provides many other optional features like Team election, candidate picture on ballot page, voter selfie, double authentication, biometric authentication and multiple votes - limited. Based on specific required of the poll, AR / RP / IRP can use these additional features. Unlike most other platform Right2Vote offers flexibility to use advanced features in critical and more sensitive polls like selection of Authorised Representative (AR) or approval of resolution plan.

Trusted by leading insolvency firms: Leading insolvency firms and insolvency professional including AAA Insolvency, Sumedha Management, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Alvarez and Mashal are using eVoting , Video Conference , Virtual Data Room and eAuction services of Right2Vote for insolvency matters.

If you want to try out our eVoting services please contact us by emailing us at contact@right2vote.in or call us at 9920591306.

For residential housing society / Residential Welfare Association (RWA) / Home Owners Association (HOA) voting or online of home buyers other than IBC cases please refer Housing Society Voting page.

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