The Allahabad High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the unruly behaviour of Advocates during the Awadh Bar Association elections, held on August 14.

The Lucknow Division Bench of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh said, “We are very pained to know that election of Awadh Bar Association, scheduled to be held on August 14 in the premises of High Court, was cancelled due to unruly, indecent and undemocratic behaviour and breach of protocol by some of the lawyers, who also indulged in unlawful activities.

“We have been informed that the candidates, along with their supporters, entered into the voting arena and indulged in tearing of ballot papers and in pushing female lawyers and misbehaving with them. One lawyer was seriously injured in the melee and his hand got fractured in the incident. One lawyer suffered a heart attack. It is really shocking to hear such an incident happening in the premises of the High Court during its Bar election.

“We take cognisance of this unruly behaviour of the Advocates during the election process and, as such, call upon Returning Officer V. K. Shahi, to submit his report in this regard. In the report, he may submit video clipping(s) and photograph(s) as well as evidence and material collected, which led to cancellation of the election on August 14, 2021.

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Ashok Nigam, Chairman Elders’ Committee, appeared before the Court. He gave certain suggestions for the elections to be held in future.

“Ashok Nigam, Chairman, Elders’ Committee is requested to give his suggestion(s) in writing by tomorrow. If any member of the Bar Association has any suggestion, he may give it in writing to the Chairman, Elders’ Committee, who may consider it and, if feels proper, may incorporate it in his suggestions”, the Court ordered.

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“We also hereby call upon the Senior Registrar of this Court to submit his report with respect to security and unlawful activities, which had taken place inside the premises of the High Court during the said election.

The Senior Registrar shall allow the Returning Officer to take relevant material from the room, which has been sealed and given under custody of CRPF. The report of the Returning Officer shall be submitted by tomorrow”, the order said.

The Court has fixed the next hearing for the petition on August 18.

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to conduct upcoming Supreme Court Bar Association elections 2020-2021, strictly by way of “secret ballot” in physical form, in terms of Bye-Law no. 17 of Supreme Court Bar Association. 

The petition seeks directions to the “Joint Secretary Cooperative & Central Registrar”, “Chairman, Election Committee, 2021”, and the “Supreme Court Bar Association”, stating that more than 70% of the total voters as well as contestants who are participating in the upcoming elections, demand that it should be conducted in the physical form, and not by any other form. 

It is filed by Advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav who is also a contesting candidate in the upcoming SCBA elections. He submits a huge amount of money from SCBA members is going to be misused for hiring services of an agency for virtual elections. 

He also questioned the mechanism adopted for the Election. “what is the mechanism used by the agency to identify the real voter or no proxy voting will be done, how it will be done and how it can make sure that there will be no mismanagement is debatable,” he asked. 

“The members of the SCBA is not ready to adopt the Virtual or Hybrid method of elections as most of the Advocates have gone back to their respective native places and there is a remote possibility to access to the internet and virtual mode of elections is not practical and if they don’t vote their valuable right will be vanished. It is requested before this Hon’ble court to direct the respondent/s to conduct the election strictly as pre the Bye-Law No. 17 of the Supreme Court Bar Association,” is stated in the petition. 

The petition said, “if the statute provides “for a thing to be done in a particular manner, then it has to be done in that manner and in no other manner”, if as per the Registered Bye-Laws of the Supreme Court Bar Association if the elections have to be conducted by the secret ballot it has to be done in that manner only.”

The petitioner also mentioned that As per the Bye-Law no. 17 of the Registered Bye-Laws of the Supreme Court Bar Association 

17. ELECTIONS:

“The Office-Bearers of the Association shall be elected by secret ballot and the other members of the Committees shall be elected by secret ballot by single distributive votes at the Annual Election. No office bearer or member of the Committee shall be eligible to hold any office for more than two consecutive years. Canvassing in any form on the date of polling is prohibited”.

Yesterday only, the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for “e-Voting” in the upcoming Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Elections 2020-2021, scheduled to be held on 27th February 2021. 

In its Note regarding e-Voting system published on the SCBA website, the NSDL has said, “The members can access the e-Voting system at https://www.evoting.nsdl.com and log in through user Id and One Time Password (OTP) to be communicated via registered email and/or mobile number to the eligible voter members to cast vote on the polling day already announced i.e. 27.02.2021 (10:30 AM to 6:00 PM). Apart from convenience of home/office, the safety, security and integrity of voting is ensured by protected systems which cannot be tampered.”

The “Election Committee” for SCBA Election 2020-21 also proposes to hold town hall meeting in virtual mode to address the queries of members on 20/02/2021 between 11.00 am to 1.00 pm.

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