Who Can Contest and Who Can Vote in a Housing Society Committee Election in Maharashtra

The situation

Nomination forms are due next week. The secretary has three problems on his desk at once: a member who has not attended a single general body meeting in five years wants to file his nomination; a member's wife, admitted years ago as an associate member, wants to vote at the AGM in her husband's absence; and the committee's own "expert director," co-opted last year for his engineering background, wants to cast the deciding vote for the next chairman. None of these are edge cases — they are exactly the situations bye-laws 22, 25, 106, 115 and 117 were written to answer.

Active membership is the gate — to standing and to voting

Bye-law 22(c) defines an "Active Member" by three tests: attendance at least once at a general body meeting in the preceding five years (unless the general body has condoned the absence), ownership of the flat, and regular payment of maintenance and other charges. A member who fails any of these is classified "Non-Active" — and bye-law 117(e) makes that classification decisive: a Non-Active Member is simply not eligible for election to the committee. Societies must classify members as Active or Non-Active at the close of every financial year and notify every Non-Active Member of the reclassification within 30 days of 31 March (bye-law 22(e)); a member disputing the classification has 60 days to appeal to the Registrar.

One member, one vote — and where the associate member fits in

Bye-law 106 is short and absolute: at the general body meeting, every Active Member has one vote, and only in that member's absence does his Associate Member vote instead. Bye-law 25 confirms an Associate Member has none of an Active Member's rights except what Section 27(2) of the Act provides. The 2026 amendment rules sharpen this further — under Rule 106C-5, an associate member can vote, and can also contest a committee election, but only with the original member's prior written consent recorded on Form Y-5A. Without that consent, and without the no-objection certificate bye-law 117(d) requires, an associate member's nomination is not valid.

Who may not stand for the committee

Bye-law 117 lists six disqualifications, and a nomination form should be checked against every one of them before it is accepted:

• •Criminal conviction — convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, until six years have passed since the conviction.
• •Dues default — has not paid dues owed to the society within three months of a written demand notice (hand-delivered or by registered post).
• •Held responsible under the Act — found liable under Section 79, 88 or 147, or ordered to pay inquiry costs under Section 85.
• •Associate member without consent — has not submitted the no-objection certificate and undertaking the bye-laws require from the original member.
• •Not an Active Member — fails the bye-law 22(c) test above.
• •Unauthorised subletting or transfer — has sub-let the flat, given it on leave-and-licence, parted with possession, or sold his shares and interest, without the society's prior written permission.

Any one of these bars a person from being elected, or co-opted, onto the committee.

The committee's term, and who never gets a vote in an election

Bye-law 115(a) requires the committee to be elected afresh once every five years, in accordance with Section 73-CB, before the existing term expires; the committee itself must notify the State Co-operative Election Authority in time, and failing that, members cease to hold office on expiry and the Registrar can act under Section 77-A. Elections are conducted by the State Co-operative Election Authority under Section 73CB (bye-law 115(e)).

The committee may co-opt up to two "Expert Directors" for their subject expertise, and separately up to two "Functional Directors" — but bye-law 115(b) and (c) are explicit that neither category can vote in any election of the society, and Expert Directors are not eligible to be elected as office bearers either. Once two-thirds of the committee's seats are filled in a general election, bye-law 118 deems the committee validly constituted on publication of the winners' names by the Registrar — the society does not need to wait for every seat to be filled.

When a committee member drops out mid-term

A committee member's seat is vacated automatically under bye-law 119 if he incurs any bye-law 117 disqualification, or misses three consecutive monthly committee meetings without leave of absence. The committee must record the fact in its minutes, and the secretary must inform both the member and the Registrar; the seat is vacant on the Registrar's order.

That casual vacancy is not filled by a fresh election. Bye-law 128 lets the committee fill it by nomination from the same class of Active Members the vacancy arose in, following the State Co-operative Election Authority's instructions. The 2026 rules spell out the mechanics at Rule 106C-13(4): the secretary gives seven days' notice on the notice board inviting nominations, valid nominations go before the committee, and if there are more nominations than vacancies, the committee decides by majority vote. A member filling a casual vacancy serves only for the remainder of the outgoing member's term.

What your committee should do

1. 1Classify every member as Active or Non-Active at the close of each financial year, and notify Non-Active members within 30 days of 31 March (bye-law 22(e)) — do this before nomination season opens, not after.
2. 2Screen every nomination against the bye-law 117 checklist — conviction, dues default, Section 79/88/147 liability, associate-member consent, active-member status, unauthorised subletting — before accepting it.
3. 3Get the written no-objection certificate on file before allowing an associate member to vote or to contest (bye-law 117(d), Rule 106C-5).
4. 4Never let a co-opted Expert or Functional Director vote in an election or stand for an office-bearer post (bye-law 115(b), (c)).
5. 5Track committee attendance. A member absent from three consecutive monthly meetings without leave has already vacated his seat under bye-law 119 — minute it and inform the Registrar rather than letting it go unrecorded.
6. 6Fill a casual vacancy by the committee's own 7-day notice and nomination process, not a fresh general election (bye-law 128, Rule 106C-13(4)), and remember the replacement's term ends with the outgoing member's term, not a fresh five years.