Talk:Elections 2016

=Top page for discussions regarding Elections 2016=

Election committee announcement
Election committee announcement was made by EC via. This year, the Election committee (Elecom2015) comprises of 3 members
 * Mr. Yogesh KS: Returning Officer
 * Mr. Kishore Annam Thyagaraja: Polling Officer
 * Dr. Abhijeet Safai: Polling Officer

Final Electoral Roll
A check of the documents will be done for all candidates and random checks for the voters.
 * Electoral roll published by WMIN

Election notice
Election notice link is as below.
 * Elections 2016

Signed by Elecom Members

First IRC

 * Announcement
 * 

Questions for IRC
Member ID : Question
 * Questions may be updated in advance here by members in the following format


 * INDI-785, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga: Till today, I have seen no nominations. The last date is 24th of this month. What is the case if there aren't enough nomination within the stipulated limit? --Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk) 21:00, 19 March 2017 (IST)

Regarding two candidate's seconders seconding late
It was informed that two candidate's seconders have seconded late (or still not seconded, in which case it is requested to them to get seconded in 48 hours) for their respective candidates. As it was late by few hours and considering the possibility that they were not familiar with the process and as the nominations had happened in time, the election committee decided to consider these candidates for election. Sharing this for purpose of documentation. Thanks and regards. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 21:52, 26 March 2017 (IST)

Conflict of interest regarding one candidate
It has come to notice that one candidate has current conflict of interest with Wikimedia India elections as he is officially associated with Wikimedia foundation reference. This point was discussed in election committee and it was decided that as Wikimedia India is independent of Wikimedia foundation reference, and election's rules also say that the person having conflict of interest cannot fight the election Sub point number 5 of point C - Rules and Regulations for Wikimedia Chapter Elections/Appointments, it was decided that this candidate cannot be considered as a candidate for current elections. We would like to wish him best of luck in his future endeavors. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 18:30, 28 March 2017 (IST)

Number of issues with accepted nominations for EC
Disclaimer - I personally support a number of the candidates below (and my own candidature as well). However, I think due process is more important and there are a number of problems with the 21 nominations accepted so far. For clarity, they are -
 * Dr Subas Chandra Rout - Srikant Kedia and Jnanaranjan Sahu
 * Harish Satpute - Kiran Ravikumar and Santosh Shingare
 * Harvinder Chandigarh - Ajit Kumar Tiwari and Raju Suthar
 * Krishna Chaitanya Velaga - Mourya Biswas and Suyash Dwivedi
 * Mourya Biswas - Krishna Chaitanya Velaga and Jayanta Nath
 * Rahul Deshmukh - Suyog Vyawahare and Harish Satpute
 * Sanket Oswal - Satdeep Gill and Subham Soni
 * Santosh Shingare - Satdeep Gill and Suyash Dwivedi
 * Srikar Kashyap Pulipaka - Mourya Biswas and Satdeep Gill
 * Subham Soni - Satdeep Gill and Jayanta Nath
 * Suyash Dwivedi - Krishna Chaitanya Velaga and Satdeep Gill
 * Viswanathan Prabhakaran - Satdeep Gill and Jayanta NAth
 * Yohann Thomas - Srikant Kedia and Subham Soni
 * Priyanka Tiwari - Nikhil Kawale and Kiran Ravikumar
 * Nikhil Kawale - Priyanka Tiwari and Satdeep Gill
 * Raju Jangid - Syed Muzammiluddin and Suyash Dwivedi
 * Kiran Ravikumar - Satdeep Gill and Subham Soni
 * Jnanaranjan Sahu - Mrutyunjaya Kar and Srikant Kedia
 * Dr Ataullah Khan Kak Cenjary - Sayli Salvi and Syed Muzammiluddin
 * Ranjith Sanjeev - Satdeep Gill and Subham Soni
 * Sayli Salvi - Dr Ataullah Khan K Cenjary. (No seconder)

First, the Elections page clearly mentioned that nominations close at 23:59 IST (24th March). Considering previous elections (See Talk:Elections2014 for reference), any edits after the deadline are supposed to be rolled back. But 7 candidates had part of the Election process after the due date (with one having all the parts of the nomination after the due date). I note that the ElecCom mentioned in the Talk page that two candidates (not 7) had seconding happening late, and decided to give an extra 2 days deadline for the same (so roughly 26th or 27th March?). This was because some candidates were unaware of the rules (even though 2 of the 7 are past EC members). Even after 27th March though, there was at least one candidate editing their profile (Harvinder Chandigarh) and another with incomplete profile (Sayli Salvi). Also, while the ElecCom mentioned the extra time for seconding, at least one candidate (Nikhil Kalwale) had their entire nomination made after the deadline. The deadline was not supposed to be used for new nominations, else there would be people who could nominate themselves on 27th March or later.

These were the edits made after due date -
 * 1) Raju Jangid - Suyash Dwiwedi (Seconder) accepted on 25th March
 * 2) Kiran Ravikumar - Kiran Ravikumar (Nominee) accepted on 25th March
 * 3) Ranjith Sanjeev - Ranjith Sanjeev (Nominee) accepted on 25th March. However, there was clear indication on the page that this was due to internet issues, so is much simpler than other nominations.
 * 4) Sayli Salvi - DrCenjary (Proposer) accepted on 25th March.
 * 5) Nikhil Kalwale - All the edits for Nikhil Kalwale (Nominee, Seconder and Proposer) were on 25th March
 * 6) Suyash Dwivedi - Suyash Dwivedi (Nominee) accepted on 26th March.
 * 7) Priyanka Tiwari - Both Kiran Ravikumar (seconder) and Priyanka Tiwari (Nominee) accepted on 26th March
 * 8) Harvinder Chandigarh - Harvinder Chandigarh made edits on 28th March.

Other than that, there are these issues with nominations -
 * 1) DrCenjary has a complete nomination at Elections 2016/Nominations/DrCenjury. However, the nomination listed is at Elections 2016/Nominations/Dr Ataullah Khan Kak Cenjary, where neither the seconder (Syed Muzammiluddin) nor the proposer (Sayli Salvi) has ever edited. All but one edits on the listed page are on 25th March. Nobody should ever make edits with other's wikisignatures (See http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Elections_2016/Nominations/Dr_Ataullah_Khan_Kak_Cenjary&diff=next&oldid=37440). At best, it is a miscommunication that should have been sorted out (DrCenjary must not edit with other's wikisignatures and the nomination could be simply moved to the correct location). At worst, it is falling short of the rules.
 * 2) Sayli Salvi does not have a completed nomination even now (as of 30 March). There is no seconder for their nomination. They should have been disqualified under Rule C2.

Now let us look at the seconders and proposers by number of candidates supported. They are - Satdeep Gill - 9, Subham Soni - 4, Jayanta Nath - 3, Srikant Kedia - 3, Suyash Dwivedi - 3, Kiran Ravikumar - 2, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga - 2, Mourya Biswas - 2, Syed Muzammiluddin - 2, Ajit Kumar Tiwari - 1, Dr Ataullah Khan K Cenjary - 1, Harish Satpute - 1, Jnanaranjan Sahu - 1, Mrutyunjaya Kar - 1, Nikhil Kawale - 1, Priyanka Tiwari - 1, Raju Suthar - 1, Santosh Shingare - 1, Sayli Salvi - 1, Suyog Vyawahare - 1

Under the rule C2, there can be a maximum of 7 (the same number as vacancies) seconding+proposal from any one person. However, we have 9 of them from Satdeep Gill. Therefore, at least 2 nominations are invalid. Either the ElecCom should ask Satdeep Gill to rectify the above and withdraw his seconding/proposer status from at least 2 candidates or they should be disqualifying all 9 candidatures. [Since we are past the deadline for altering nominations (24th March or 27th March, based on what one considers), no candidate should be allowed to get another seconder/proposer instead of the error as above]. For clarity, the 9 nominees supported by Satdeep Gill are - Kiran Ravikumar, Nikhil Kawale, Ranjith Sanjeev, Sanket Oswal, Santosh Shingare, Srikar Kashyap Pulipaka, Subham Soni, Suyash Dwivedi, Viswanathan Prabhakaran

Regardless of what decisions the ElecCom takes on any of these above issues, they should have been mentioned and the rules clarified and interpreted accordingly. In my opinion, at least 3 and up to 12 candidates accepted so far have an invalid candidature. However, none of them are addressed so far. I request the ElecCom to clarify the same and take necessary actions, as needed.

Regards,

Soni (talk) 13:47, 30 March 2017 (IST)


 * Thanks for pointing out the issues. We will get back to this soon and appropriate actions will be taken. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 14:14, 30 March 2017 (IST)


 * According to Elections_2016, the final list of (20) candidates has already been decided. However, the ElecCom is yet to respond to any of my statements above, despite assurances. We still have anywhere between 1 and 8 more candidates being invalid and that's not even considering the other potential problematic candidatures. If the ElecCom is not going to do it's duty, then how are we to have any election in the first place? -- Soni (talk) 17:11, 7 April 2017 (IST)


 * Dear Mr. Soni, Greetings! As it was a unanimous decision of election committee members, the deadlines were extended. This was not done to favor / oppose any particular candidate. Hence issues you have regarding extension of deadline are invalid. Mr. Satadeep Gill had nominated or seconded more number of candidates (9) than expected (7), which too has been sorted out as you can see in the below section titled as 'withdrawal'. I hope that answers all your queries. I personally find the behavioral policies of Assume Good Faith and Don't Take the Bait very helpful while editing on Wikipedia. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 16:26, 10 April 2017 (IST)


 * Hi Mr Abhijeet Safai. I personally am a huge fan of Assuming Good Faith and strongly believe in it. But I also prefer things to be done with due process, so I point them out whenever I see any loopholes. I appreciate you assuming good faith in cases of these candidates but I would prefer there also be some response and clarification in ambiguity.
 * As for the withdrawal section, it is still not clear to me. There should be at least one more invalid candidate, even if it is me. Or the ElecCom should clarify that they are not invalidating any candidate due to Assuming Good Faith. (I dont mind either, but prefer the ElecCom states whichever of the two it is clearly.) Hoping to hear some clarification on the same.
 * P.S. I hope nobody's sentiments are hurt by my questions. That is not my intention. I'm just trying to remove the ambiguity on everything, so we have no confusion/problems about it in future.
 * Regards, Soni (talk) 16:28, 17 April 2017 (IST)


 * Dear Mr. Soni, Greetings! Could you please share once again how one candidate is invalid in your opinion? I was thinking that your queries were solved. If your queries / any part of it will be found genuine, we are committed to solve them and take appropriate action. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 17:40, 18 April 2017 (IST)

Withdrawal
Considering the new changes in my professional life, I'm withdrawing my candidature from EC Election 2016. :/ -- Kiran Ravikumar, 17:44, 1 April 2017 (IST)

The work and other commitments are making me to withdraw from the nomination. I wish all the luck to other candidates. Priyanka Tiwari (talk) 23:14, 1 April 2017 (IST)


 * In case nominations proposed or seconded by me is still a problem, I would like to withdraw my proposed nomination of User:Subham Soni and Kiran has already withdrawn his nomiation. So, it should not be an issue anymore. --Satdeep gill (talk) 11:52, 8 April 2017 (IST)

Rescheduling of Wikimedia India elections to 30th April 2017
Dear All,

Greetings!

As you are all aware, in the Wikimedia India elections 2016 for all the 7 executive committee seats, there are almost 200 members in the voters list. Due to this huge number, it took more time than expected to prepare ballot papers this time. As a result election committee eventually could only send all the ballot papers on last Saturday (8th April 2017).

In order to have more time for all members to send back the papers, election committee has decided to re-schedule the Elections and annual general meeting from 30th April 2017, instead of 23rd April 2017. This decision has been taken so that everyone gets enough time to send back their ballot papers.

Thanks and regards, Election Committee

-- Dr. Abhijeet Safai -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 10:29, 11 April 2017 (IST)

Awareness on validation features to the ballot papers for the Wikimedia India elections
Dear All,

Greetings!

The election committee of Wikimedia India has a very important duty to ensure that the election takes place in a free, open & fair manner. To enforce its duty, the election committee has taken various precautions to ensure that each ballot papers it receives from the members are valid & the votes given by the members are valid.

To ensure this following are the security features we have included in he ballot papers which have been sent to all the members whose name is present in the voters list.


 * All of the ballot papers have been signed by one of the election committee member (Mr. Yogesh). This is to ensure that when the votes will be counted, we are sure that the ballot papers are genuine.
 * All ballot papers have the original coin stamp of Wikimedia India.
 * Upon receiving the ballot papers, the sign of the election committee member and seal will be checked to ensure the validity of the ballot paper.
 * On the ballot paper, we will also cross verify the sign of the member with their membership form and also their member id, to make sure we received the same papers that were sent to them.

The Election committee hopes that maximum members vote for this election & make it a success.

Thanks and regards, Election Committee -- Dr. Abhijeet Safai -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 10:30, 11 April 2017 (IST)

Wikimedia India elections: How to vote?
Dear Members,

Greetings!

As mentioned in the previous mail, ballot papers for all 203 the eligible voters were successfully sent via speed post on 8th April 2017. Let's thank Yogesh for this. Every ballot paper has been signed by an election committee member with the seal of Wikimedia India.

Members need to vote 7 candidates by checking the box next to the candidate name and sign the paper with their member id.

Each ballot paper must have the following for it to be valid


 * Maximum selection of 7 candidates
 * Signature of the member (the signature should match the one on the membership form)
 * Membership id (Please check voters list to know your membership id)

Ballot papers should be sent back via registered post in a small self addressed envelope provided with stamps of 22 rupees. They need to reach the office address on or before 30th April 2017.

We take this opportunity to wish all the candidates all the best!

In case of any doubts or queries, please feel free to ask any of the election committee members (myself or Mr. Kishore or Mr. Yogesh).

Thanks and regards, Election committee

-- Dr. Abhijeet Safai -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 10:32, 11 April 2017 (IST)