Terms of Service
These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legally binding agreement between you ("you", "your", or "User") and Vote For CM ("we", "us", "our", or the "Operator"), governing your access to and use of the website at voteforcm.com, its subdomains, and any related interfaces (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service you confirm that you have read, understood, and accepted these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
1. Nature of the Service
Vote For CM is a private, unofficial, non-binding civic-engagement platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by:
- The Election Commission of India ("ECI") or any state election authority;
- The Indian National Congress (INC), the United Democratic Front (UDF), or any other political party, alliance, or registered political organisation;
- The Government of India, the Government of Kerala, or any other government body;
- Any candidate, current or former public official, or their representatives.
Results displayed on the Service are non-binding, do not constitute an official electoral process, and do not have any legal effect on the appointment of any public office. The Service exists solely as an informal expression of public sentiment for community engagement.
2. Eligibility
You may use the Service only if:
- You are at least 18 years of age;
- You have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract under your governing law;
- You have a valid Google account that you personally own and control;
- You are not on any sanctions or denied-parties list and your use does not violate any applicable law in your jurisdiction.
3. Account and authentication
You may sign in only via Google OAuth. You agree to provide accurate information and to keep your Google credentials secure. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. We may suspend or terminate accounts that show signs of abuse, impersonation, or shared use.
4. Voting rules
4.1 One vote per person
You may cast exactly one (1) vote on the Service. The Service enforces this rule at the database level via a primary-key constraint on the user identifier. By casting a vote you represent that you have not voted previously through any other account.
4.2 Votes are final
Once submitted, votes cannot be changed, withdrawn, or transferred. Review your selection carefully before confirmation. Deleting your account will remove your vote from the tally, but you cannot re-cast it from another account.
4.3 Prohibited conduct
You must not, and must not attempt to:
- Create or use multiple accounts to vote more than once;
- Vote on behalf of another person, or solicit, pay, or coerce others to vote in a particular way;
- Use bots, scripts, automation, scrapers, headless browsers, or any non-human means to vote, register, or interact with the Service;
- Bypass, disable, or interfere with security, rate-limiting, bot detection (including Cloudflare Turnstile), or any other protective measure;
- Use the Service to harass, defame, threaten, or impersonate any candidate, voter, or third party;
- Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service except under a written security-research agreement with the Operator;
- Access or attempt to access non-public areas of the Service, our infrastructure, or accounts that do not belong to you;
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Service except as expressly permitted by applicable mandatory law;
- Use the Service in a manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair it;
- Use the Service to violate any law, regulation, or third-party right.
We may invalidate any vote, suspend any account, and refuse service to any person, at our sole discretion and without liability, where we have a reasonable belief that this section has been violated.
5. Content on the Service
Candidate names, photographs (where used), and biographical descriptions are sourced from public information and are used for purposes of identification and civic commentary only. No endorsement by any candidate is implied. If a candidate or their authorised representative wishes any content to be modified or removed, please contact hello@voteforcm.com; we will respond within a reasonable time.
6. Intellectual property
The Service, its design, code, graphics, logos, copy, trademarks, and overall "look and feel" are the property of the Operator and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable licence to access and use the Service for its intended purpose. No other rights are granted.
7. Open-source components
The Service is built on open-source software and is itself open-source. Use of open-source components is subject to their respective licences. Nothing in these Terms restricts your rights under those licences.
8. Privacy
Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference.
9. Disclaimer of warranties
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.
We do not warrant that votes will not be miscounted, that the leaderboard will always be current, or that the Service will be available at any particular time. Use of the Service is at your sole risk.
10. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event shall the Operator, its affiliates, contractors, or service providers be liable for any:
- Indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages;
- Loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, reputation, opportunity, or data;
- Reliance damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Service;
- Damages arising from any vote miscount, leaderboard inaccuracy, downtime, security incident, or third-party content;
- Damages arising from any electoral, political, or social outcome connected with the Service.
Our aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service is limited to one hundred Indian Rupees (₹100) or the equivalent in your local currency, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Operator, its affiliates, contractors, and service providers from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your breach of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or third-party right; or (d) any vote cast through your account.
12. Suspension and termination
We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, suspend or terminate your access to the Service, invalidate any vote, or take other corrective action where we have a reasonable belief that you have violated these Terms or applicable law, or where required to protect the integrity of the Service. Termination does not relieve you of obligations that by their nature survive (e.g., indemnification, limitation of liability, governing law).
13. Discontinuation of the Service
We may, at our sole discretion, discontinue the Service or any part of it at any time, with or without notice. We are under no obligation to maintain the Service, preserve historical results, or provide refunds (the Service is free of charge).
14. Force majeure
We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance under these Terms caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, riots, civil unrest, government action, labour disputes, internet service-provider failures, infrastructure outages of third-party providers (including Cloudflare, Google), or pandemics.
15. Third-party services
The Service relies on Google (for sign-in) and Cloudflare (for hosting, database, and bot protection). Your use of these third-party services is subject to their respective terms. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, or content of any third party.
16. No professional advice
Nothing on the Service constitutes legal, electoral, political, financial, or other professional advice. The Service is for general informational and engagement purposes only.
17. Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to section 18, the courts at Ernakulam, Kerala, India shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service.
18. Dispute resolution
Before filing any claim, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting hello@voteforcm.com. If the dispute is not resolved within 30 days, either party may pursue any available remedy under applicable law. Where permitted, both parties waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class action.
19. Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms otherwise remain in full force and effect.
20. Waiver
No waiver of any term shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and any failure by us to assert any right or provision under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
21. Assignment
You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms at any time without notice or consent.
22. Notices
Notices to us must be sent to hello@voteforcm.com. Notices to you may be sent by email to the address on file or by posting on the Service.
23. Entire agreement
These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and the Operator regarding the Service and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications, and proposals on the same subject.
24. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, discontinue use of the Service.
25. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Email hello@voteforcm.com.