Bar Council of Delhi polls: Supreme Court stays vote count until Delhi HC verdict on alleged irregularities

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the vote counting process for the Bar Council of Delhi elections amid allegations of tampering with ballot papers.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also transferred a batch of petitions alleging such irregularities in the poll process to a special bench of the Delhi High Court.

The matter was mentioned before the CJI-led Bench today by advocate Shobha Gupta, who flagged concerns that even tampered ballot papers were being counted.

The top court proceeded to stay the counting of ballot papers until the High Court gives its verdict in the matter.

Further, the High Court was directed to hear the case on a daily basis.

The Bar Council of Delhi elections were held in February this year, with retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Talwant Singh overseeing the polls as the returning officer.

The polls were, however, marked by some controversy. Sixty-seven candidates including two Senior Advocates were placed under summary suspension on February 22 for large-scale violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the Election Rules, 2023.

Seventy-nine lawyers received suspension notices. However, on February 23, sixty-three such suspension notices were revoked after the affected candidates gave explanations.

Days later, the Bar Council of India placed a lawyer under interim suspension for misbehaving with Justice Talwant Singh. The suspended lawyer was alleged to have attempted to manhandle Justice Singh, instigated a crowd of lawyers and raised slogans against election machinery while the retired judge was inspecting an area on complaints of MCC violations.

Last month, the Bar Council of Delhi suspended former Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) President Rajiv Khosla and 9 other advocates from its rolls for allegedly “manhandling, pushing and abusing” the officials tasked with conducting the BCD elections. 

On May 2, Justice Singh sent a confidential letter to the Supreme Court regarding the Bar elections. Meanwhile, various petitions were also filed on alleged irregularities in the polls.

In today's order, the top court, besides staying the counting of votes, directed its registry to forward Justice Singh's letter to the Delhi High Court's Chief Justice for necessary action.

[Live Coverage]