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8) The NCP Committee of Union Territories shall consist of :

1. Delegates elected from each of the Constituency/Block Committees according to number of voters in the Assembly Constituency as hereunder.

Constituencies with a voter strength of 50,000 and below electing 1 member and those with a voters strength of above 50,000 and upto 1,00,000 electing two members and those with voters strength of above 1,00,000 electing 3 members.
2. Ex-Presidents of the Committee who had completed a term of 365 days and continued to be active members of the Party.
3. The Presidents of the Constituency Committees of the Party.
4. District Presidents of the Party
5. Elected representatives of the Party in the Municipal Corporation, Municipal Councils, District Panchayat Samitis and leaders of the Panchayat Samithies under the UTC.
6. Member of the Party elected to the Parliament from the area.
7. Member of the WC who reside in the UTC.
8. Members co-opted by Executive Committee of UTC from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with the rules of the Party.

All the members except the co-opted members of the Committee will have the right to vote but only the elected delegates from Constituency/Block/Taluka Committees will be eligible to be elected as President or other Office Bearers of the Party.

The Union Territory Committee shall elect an executive committee from among its members consisting of 15 members including the President and other office bearers. They shall also elect 4 delegates from the Committee to the National Committee.

The election of the executive committee and office bearers of the U. T. Committee and the delegates to the National Committee shall be conducted at the first meeting of the new committee called by the UTRO. The UTRO shall preside over the meeting, the venue, date and time of which will be fixed by the UTRO.

9) Regional Committees of NCP

Regional Committees of NCP will have jurisdiction over the area demarcated by the Working Committee and shall consist of :

1. Delegates elected to the State Committees from each of the Constituency/Block Committees under the jurisdiction of the Regional Committee, according to the number of voters in the Assembly Constituency as hereunder, Constituencies with a voters strength of 50,000 and below electing 1 member and those with a voters strength of above 50,000 and upto 1,00,000 electing two members and those with a voters strength of above 1,00,000 electing 3 members.
2. All Ex Presidents of the Region who have completed a term of 365 days and continue to be active members of the Party.
3. Members of the WC who reside within region.
4. Presidents of Constituency/Block Committees in the Region.
5. Members of the Legislature parties of NCP both in the Parliament and in the Assembly from the Region.
6. Leaders of the Municipal corporations, Municipalities, Zilla Parishads, District Councils of the Party.
7. Members co-opted by the Executive Committee of the Region from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with rules of the Party.
8. All members of the S. C. residing in or elected from The District.

All the members except the co-opted members will have the right to vote but only the delegates elected from Constituency/Block Committees will be eligible to be elected as President or as other office bearers of the party.

The Regional Committee shall elect from among its members an Executive Committee consisting of 21 members including the President and other office bearers.

For this purpose members shall meet at the Venue, date and time fixed by the RRO. The RRO shall preside over the meeting.

10) NCP State Committee

1. Members elected from Constituency/Block Committees under the jurisdiction of the State Committee, each Constituency/Block Committee electing members according to number of voters in the Assembly Constituency as hereunder; Constituencies with a voters strength of 50,000 and below electing 1 member and those with a voters strength of above 50,000 and upto 1,00,000 electing two members and those with voters strength of above 1,00,000 electing 3 members.
2. Ex-Presidents who have completed a term of 365 days and who continue to be Active Members.
3. Presidents of the District Committees (provided that they shall not be eligible for becoming office bearers).
4. WC member who resides in the State.
5. Members elected by legislature wing of the Party at the rate of 5% of the number of members of the Legislature Party subject to a maximum of 15.
6. Members of Parliament elected on NCP ticket from the State.
7. Members co-opted by the State Executive from special elements not adequately represented and others in accordance with the rules of the Party. But they shall not be eligible to vote or to contest as candidates in their capacity as co-opted members.

The State Committee shall from amongst its members elect an Executive Committee consisting of 1/10th of the number of members in the SC subject to a minimum of 21 members including the President and other Office Bearers. All the members except co-opted members will have the right to vote but only delegates elected by Constituency Committee shall be eligible to be elected as office bearers or as members of the Executive Committee.

The members shall assemble at the venue, date and time notified by the SRO. The S.R.O. shall preside over the meeting and conduct elections to the following bodies in the order of preference given below one after the completion of the other

1. The State President and other office bearers (excluding Secretaries)
2. The members of the State Executive Committee
3. The delegates to the National Committee to be elected at the rate of 1/10 the of the total number of the SC members (delegates)
4. The members to be elected to the State Election Committee (the number to be not more than 10 and less than four)

The SRO shall within two days after the date of election of delegates/members to the SC send to the Central Election Authority:

i) A consolidated list of all delegates elected to the NCP State Committee.
ii) The list of members elected from SC to the National Committee.

11) NCP National Committee shall consist of:

1. One tenth of the total number of delegates of the State Committee elected from each of the State Committees from among the delegates of the SC to the National Committee.
2. The President of NCP
3. Ex-Presidents of the Party who have completed a term of 365 days and who continue to be an Active Members of the Party.
4. State Presidents of NCP (they shall not be eligible to be Office Bearers of the National Committee)
5. Leaders of the NCP Legislatures (Legislative Assemblies and the Metropolitan Council in Union Territories).
6. 15 Members elected by the NCP Members in Parliament according to the system of Single Transferable Vote.

Article 11,12 and 15

Co opted Members

If different sections like women, SC/STs/ minorities, Trade Unionists, Nationalist Youth Congress, Nationalist Students Congress, Seva Dal, Sportsmen, Artists, social activists, literary figures and so on who are not adequately represented in any of the party committees, the WC in the case National Committee and the Executive Committees in the case all lower committees of the party may co-opt up to 15% of the total membership of the concerned committees as members of that Committee. But, they shall have no right to vote in any organisational elections in their capacity as co opted members. The term of the co-opted members shall terminate with the term of the concerned committee.

Article 12 Sub clause (i)
Qualification for being elected as delegate

Any candidate who seeks election as delegate to any committee of the Party need not be a member of that committee which elects the delegate. Any Active Member shall be entitled to be a candidate for election as a delegate to any committee of the party.

Article 19 Special National Convention

A special National Convention of the Party shall be called if the majority of SCs through their resolutions request the President to convene such a Convention. The resolution so passed shall clearly mention the particular item to be considered at the Convention. The Convention may be held within two months after the
resolutions reach the President. The Convention shall beconvened with the sole agenda of considering the item raised in the resolution. No other items shall be raised in the Convention. But the President will have the privilege of discussing any other item in the Convention which he thinks so important and so urgent. No special Convention can be requested for within six months after one requisitioned meeting is over.

Article 24 Scrutiny of Membership

Any member or committee that is aggrieved or who has any complaint against the sealing of membership etc. can put up a complaint with the District Scrutiny Committee within the stipulated time. On receipt of such complaints, the Scrutiny Committee, after proper verification of the facts and considering them, shall take a decision on the matter and inform their decision to the parties concerned. If the parties are aggrieved with their decision, they can appeal to the State Scrutiny Committee within the stipulated time. On receipt of such an appeal, the State Scrutiny Committee will consider the merits of the case and take a decision within the time schedule and inform the parties. Those aggrieved by the decision of the State scrutiny Committee, can appeal to the State Election Authority. The State Election Authority, after considering all aspects and merits of the case shall take a decision on the matter and inform the parties concerned and that decision shall be final.

Article 26 : Election Machinery
Appointment of Election Authority

i) The Working Committee shall appoint a Central Election Authority for the Party comprising of not less than three and not more than five members, one of whom will be a Chairman of the Authority. The Chairman of the Central Election Authority shall be the Ex- Officio Returning Officer to conduct elections to the offices of the President and Members of the W. C.

The Central Election Authority shall appoint State, Territorial Election Authorities in consultation with the State or Territorial Committees of the Party. The State, Territorial Election Authorities will function from the State, Territorial NCP Offices.

ii) Duties and Responsibilities of State Election Authority :

The State election Authorities will take such steps as necessary to conduct the elections in a fair and free manner within the State. The State Election Authority shall arrange for scrutiny of Membership. The State Election Authority will appoint scrutiny committees at State, Regional and District levels consisting of three members for scrutiny of membership and for taking decisions on the complaints regarding membership and sealing of membership.

Those who are aggrieved with the decisions of District Scrutiny Committee shall appeal the Regional Scrutiny Committee, if any or to the State Scrutiny Committees within two days after the decision of the District Scrutiny Committee or the Regional Scrutiny Committee. Anybody aggrieved with the decision of the Regional Committees shall appeal to the State Election Authority within two days after the decision of the Regional Committee. All appeals regarding the scrutiny of membership will be disposed of by the State Scrutiny Committee within two days after that date of filing the appeal.

Any person affected by the decision of the State Scrutiny Committee can appeal to the State Election Authority regarding any decision of the State Scrutiny Committee and the State Election Authority shall dispose of the appeal within two days after the filing of the appeal.

iii) Any election dispute shall be adjudicated by the State Election Authorities. All appeals against the decisions of the State Election Authorities shall be disposed of by the Central Election Authority.

iv) The Central Election Authority shall appoint State or Territorial Returning Officers. The State/Territorial Returning Officer shall conduct the party elections in their respective States, Regions or Union Territories in accordance with the Party Constitution and rules of the Party in this regard. They shall, in consultation with State/Regional/Territorial Committees and District Committees concerned appoint Regional, District Returning Officers and such other officers as may be necessary for proper conduct of the election in the State/Territories.

Generally the Returning Officers shall perform their duties as Returning Officers from the office of the party committee concerned provided that they may function also from other places allotted to them by the concerned party committee but only with the permission of the SC or DC.

The State Election Authority shall perform such other functions as are allotted by the Central Election Authority from time to time. The DRO shall in consultation with The District Committees and the Constituency Committees appoint Assistant Returning Officers at Constituency level, polling officers at Panchayat/Town/Area level and Polling Assistants at Unit or Ward level. The State Returning Officer shall give necessary direction and guidance to all Returning Officers and Polling Officers and Polling Assistants for the proper conduct of elections.

The Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, Polling Officers and Polling Assistants will not be eligible to contest for any party post. The term of the Returning Officers will expire with the completion of the Process of election.

The State Returning Officer can remove any DRO or other Election Officer if it is satisfied that he fails to discharge his duties impartially and in a fair manner and appoint another officer to conduct the election in that Unit.

No Retrurning Officer shall have the power to delegate any of his functions to anybody else except with the permission of the officer superior to him or the SRO.

The Returning Officer of subordinate committees to the District Committees shall fix the venue, date and time of assembling for the election and give notice to the delegates three days before the date of election.

The identity of voters should be ascertained before the elections process starts.

v) The SRO, RRO, UTRO and DRO Concerned shall fix the venue, date and time of polling of their respective units before 7 days of the polling and publish the same on notice board of the party and also in newspapers.

vi) (a) Nomination papers prescribed by the State Election Authority shall be used for filing nominations in the National, State, Regional or District elections. A Nomination paper should be proposed by a delegate and seconded by another delegate and the consent of the nominee (candidate) also should be recorded in the form.

The schedule for filing nominations, scrutiny, withdrawal and polling if necessary, should be issued with the Notice.

vi) (b) Verbal nominations or proposals can be made for elections to subordinate committees by any delegate and supported by any other delegate when called for, by the ROs concerned at the meeting held for elections. The procedure for proposing candidates should be specified in the Notice issued for election.

The RO Concerned shall make arrangements at the polling station for marking the votes secretly. The Polling Officer shall fix the time for commencement and closing of polling and publish the same along with the notice issued as well as at the venue of polling.

vii) Process of Election : Unit Committee

All the members of the Unit committee should assemble at the venue, date and time notified by the Polling Officer/Assistant. The approved list of members in the Division/Ward/Units shall be made available to the Polling Assistant at least on the previous day of the Election. The Polling Assistant shall preside over the meeting of members. He should explain to the members/voters the details of the number of office bearers, members of the executive and the number of delegates to higher committees to be elected.

viii) Instructions Regarding Polling

The proposals may be made verbally at the meeting by any one of the members of that meeting and each proposal should be seconded by some other member of that meeting. If more valid proposals than the number of posts are made sufficient time may be allotted for the withdrawal. After the withdrawal if there is no contest for any post such posts may be declared elected unanimously and if there is contest even after withdrawal the pro posals may be put to vote. The voting shall be by secret ballot.

The delegates of PC/TC/AC, CC, DC, UTC, RC and SC shall assemble at the venue of the meeting at the scheduled time as per the notice issued by the PO, ARO, DRO, UTRO, RRO and SRO concerned respectively. The Returning Officer concerned shall preside over the meeting for election of the Committee for which he is conducting the election.

The Returning officer should verify the identity of the delegates before the process of election begins. The Returning Officer concerned shall at the outset explain to the voters the details of procedure to be followed for elections and also the detail of the office bearers, members of the Executive Committee and delegates to the higher committees to be elected. The election of office bearers, executive committee members and delegates may be held separately one after the completion of the other. Voting if necessary should be held by secret ballot. The Returning Officer shall make arrangements for marking the votes secretly and he shall maintain the secrecy of voting.

ix) Voting and Counting of Votes :

If there are only two candidates, the voters, can cast their vote for one of them and the candidate who polls more votes will be declared elected. If there are more than two candidates, the voter shall record preferential votes against the names of the candidates writing the figures 1,2 if there are only two candidates and the figures 1,2 & 3 if there are three candidates in the contest. The ballot paper showing less number of figures marked than the number of candidates contesting shall be regarded as invalid.

If any candidates secures more than 50% of the votes of the first preference he shall be declared elected. If no candidates secures more than 50% of the first preferential votes, the candidate who secures the smallest number of first preferential votes shall be eliminated and the second preferential votes shall be counted and if in this counting also no candidates secures more than 50% of the votes, the candidate who secures the smallest number of votes in that counting will again be eliminated and this process of counting the next preferential votes and elimination will continue until one of the candidates secures more than 50% votes. Election of Executive Committee Members or delegates where election is to held for more posts than one and
there are more contestants than the number of posts the ballot paper containing the names of all contesting candidates shall be issued and the voters shall mark their votes only for such number of candidates as there are number of posts for which polling is held. But the ballot papers shall be considered invalid if the ballot paper recorded more votes than the posts for which election is held. After the counting of votes, the required number of candidates for which polling is conducted shall be declared elcted from among the list prepared in the order priority based on the higher number of votes polled for each candidate.

In cases where candidates get equal number of votes, the decision may be taken by lot.