IIT Bombay
General Elections 2026

Instructions on the Electorate

• Elections for the Institute General Secretaries (Cultural/HA/Sports/Tech): The electorate comprises the entire student community of IIT Bombay.
• Elections for the General Secretary Academic Affairs (UG): Elections for the General Secretary Academic Affairs (UG): The electorate would comprise all Undergraduate (B.Tech./ Dual Degree/ 5 yr M.Sc.(Integrated)/BS/BDes) students.
• Elections for the General Secretary Academic Affairs (PG): The electorate would comprise all Postgraduate (Ph.D./ M.Tech./ 2yr M.Sc /M.Phil./ M.Des./ M.Mgt./ PGDIIT/ MSc-Ph.D. Dual Degree) students.
• 2 yr M.Sc. programs at IITB:
  • M.Sc.(Physics) Dept. of Physics
  • M.Sc.(Chemistry) Dept. of Chemistry
  • M.Sc.(Mathematics) Dept. of Mathematics
  • M.Sc.(Applied Statistics and Informatics) Dept. of Mathematics
  • M.Sc.(Applied Geology) Dept. of Earth Sciences
  • M.Sc.(Applied Geophysics) Dept. of Earth Sciences
  • M.Sc.(Biotechnology) School of Biosciences & Bioengineering
• Elections for the Institute Secretaries (Cult/Sports/Tech): The electorate comprises of the institute council and upto 5 nominees from each hostel.

General Campaigning Rules

• Distribution of any printed or digital material is henceforth prohibited without permission/instruction of EC.
• You can summarize your manifesto points in infographics. Maximum 10 Copies of this will be stamped by the election committee that can be used during the Campaigning.
• You cannot be present at or be conducting any events without prior permission from EC.
• You cannot convene/address or participate in public events/debates/gatherings without prior permission from EC.
• Campaigning is strictly restricted to hostel premises (within the threshold of the hostels).
• The Candidate is allowed to campaign in hostels from 6:00 AM and no later than 11:59 PM(for hostels of the same gender as that of candidate) and 10:00 PM(for hostels of the opposite gender as that of candidate). In case of hostels of opposite gender the candidate must be accompanied by either a resident of the hostel or a campaign team member of the opposite gender at all times while campaigning.
• You cannot use motorized vehicles for campaigning.
• Anti-campaigning of any kind is strictly prohibited.
• All the manifestos and infographics to be used by candidates during campaigning must be stamped by the election committee.
• Violation of any institute and hostel policies while campaigning will lead to a penalty as recommended by the election committee.
• Your campaign can only address the issues, within the institute purview relevant to the post you are contesting.
• You are strictly prohibited from seeking assistance from non-students of IIT Bombay in any shape or form to benefit your election. Information sought during the groundwork is excluded from this rule.
• You are prohibited from enlisting/soliciting non-campus entities in any way for the purposes of the election.
• Use of monetary/non-monetary incentives (even in the form of small presents/gifts) will invite punitive action and is strictly prohibited.
• No form of personal endorsements during campaigning is allowed.

Here are the rights and rules of the above:

• Campaign Team Members can carry the stamped manifestos and infographics (out of the 40/10, as applicable).
• Anti-campaigning of any form (online/offline) will not be allowed by these members and strict penalties will be applied to the respective candidate on these grounds.
• The candidate for which the person is campaigning would have to face the penalty (votes or otherwise) as decided by the EC. The person might also face an equivalent or different form of penalty (E-DAC).
• The candidate and the members of the campaign team will be provided with ID cards which need to be worn at all times while campaigning. Without the ID they can’t do Campaigning.

Flexes/Print Media

NO Flexes/Printed Media is allowed.

Publicity Restrictions on the Current Office Held by the Candidate

• A candidate is not allowed to publicize any events under their office through any channels (mails, social media, in-person etc.)
• Distribution of any printed or digital material is henceforth NOT allowed.
• You cannot be present at or be conducting any events without prior permission from EC.
• You cannot address or participate in public events without prior permission from EC.
• You are NOT allowed to send notices by your name on Student Notices, Events, and similar public platforms where student interaction is possible. You may, however, ask one of the Institute General Secretaries to send out notices for you, your name will NOT be mentioned in such notices.
• You are not supposed to use your present position as a means to reach out to individuals on any social media platform or through offline interactions.
• You are not supposed to put any post/mail related to your own credibility/story or related to your work for the position that you are currently holding in Gymkhana.

In case of any further queries, please reach out to the Election Commission.

Online Meeting

• The candidates contesting for the position of the Institute General Secretary can host online meetings with the permission of the election commission
• Any election commission member can visit or attend these online meetings, for which permission from the election commission is taken before informing through different media. The organizer of the meeting shall ensure full cooperation with the election commission members in this regard.
• These meetings for which the permission of the election commission has been obtained, will not involve solicitation of votes in favor or against any candidate.
• The election commission may cancel the meeting and revoke the permission of these meetings anytime. On the withdrawal of the permission, the organizer of the meeting shall ensure full cooperation with the election commission to put an end to the online meeting immediately.

Digital Publicity

• The candidates and their team of campaigners contesting for the position of Institute General Secretaries can upload an online infographic with prior approval from the election commission.
• Social Media platforms that can be used by the campaigners and candidates for campaigning would be limited to Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp.
• Video conferencing platforms used by the candidates are Google Meets, WebEx, Zoom, Skype, Discord, or any other platform with prior approval of the election commission.
• If any other platforms for Digital campaigning are required, the candidates shall obtain prior permission from the election commission.
• The digital material must not contain any offensive/indecent comments/remarks and must ensure gender neutrality in all written communication.

Soapbox

• The election commission will conduct a soapbox in a format as deemed fit by the election commission. The format will be informed to the students and the candidate apriori.
• The recording of the Soapbox will be made available to the on-roll students of IIT Bombay through appropriate online mediums.

Note - If there are any changes in the above guideline, will be informed to your via appropriate channels and violation of any rules mentioned above by any student is liable to E-DAC

Polling

• Polling will be done in online mode through sso login and can be accessed through any internet connection.
• For posts where multiple candidates (say A,B,C) are contesting, the voter would be able to choose from one of the following options:

  A:	You want that candidate A be elected
  B:	You want that candidate B be elected
  C:	You want that candidate C be elected
  Neutral:	You do not wish to cast a vote for this post
  Nota:	You do not wish to select any of the candidates

• For posts where only one candidate (say A) are contesting, the voter would be able to choose from one of the following options:

  Yes:	You want that candidate A be elected
  Neutral:	You do not wish to cast a vote for this post
  No:	You do not like the candidate A to be elected

  The candidate would be elected if the number of Yes' are greater than the number of No's. Else a nomination procedure will be adopted to select a candidate for that position.

Observing Body and Penalty Committee

A committee comprising of two faculty members and two senior students will speculate the election process along with the EC. The Election committee will look into the entire policies and execution of the gymkhana elections. The Election oversight committee will be nominated by President, Gymkhana. The mandate of the committee is to monitor the elections the days preceding, and report any unfair activities with respect to the elections. However members of the observing body can question the acts of any election officer or member of the election committee at any point.

Closed Elections

Closed elections will be held for the following posts:

• Institute Cultural Council:
  • Institute Classical and Folk Arts Secretary
  • Institute Dance Secretary
  • Institute Dramatics Secretary
  • Institute Film and Media Secretary
  • Institute Literary Arts Secretary
  • Institute Music Secretary
  • Institute Photography and Fine Arts Secretary
  • Institute Speaking Arts Secretary
  • Institute Design Secretary
  • Institute Indian Languages Secretary
• Institute Sports Council:
  • Institute Athletics Secretary
  • Institute Aquatics Secretary
  • Institute Badminton Secretary
  • Institute Basketball Secretary
  • Institute Board Games Secretary
  • Institute Cricket Secretary
  • Institute Football Secretary
  • Institute Hockey Secretary
  • Institute Indian Games Secretary
  • Institute Lawn Tennis Secretary
  • Institute Squash Secretary
  • Institute Table Tennis Secretary
  • Institute Volleyball Secretary
  • Institute Weightlifting Secretary
• Institute Technical Council:
  • Institute Aeromodeling Secretary
  • Institute Astronomy Secretary
  • Institute BioX Secretary
  • Institute Electronics and Robotics Secretary
  • Institute Energy Secretary
  • Institute Maths and Physics Secretary
  • Institute Tinkerers' Lab Secretary
  • Institute Web and Coding Secretary