G Mohanakrishnan re-elected President of Madras High Court Advocates Association

Almost a year after the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) elections got stalled and called off over violence and allegations of booth capturing, the Association successfully conducted its elections on Friday and re-elected Advocate G Mohanakrishnan as the Association's President. .Advocate K Krishnakumar was elected the Secretary. The counting of votes for the post of Vice-President is still on..Those who contested for the President post include G Mohanakrishnan (elected), R Balasubramanian, S Mahaveer Shivaji, A Mohandoss, S Padma, RC Paul Kanagraj, C Rajasekharan, K Sathyabal, and M Velmurugan..4,752 eligible lawyers cast their votes to elect the new officer bearers. The poll process had remained stalled since 2018 for several reasons.On January 9 this year, the MHAA elections that were scheduled following an October 2022 High Court order were stalled and eventually called off by the Teller Committee following allegations of booth capturing..Commenting on the poll results, Mohanakrishnan said that it was a "message that integrity and democratic principles always score above money power and politics.""This win is also an opportunity to assure all lawyers that henceforth, MHAA will concentrate on their welfare and elections for the Association will always be free and fair," Mohanakrishnan added..The Teller Committee had earlier told the Court that it had allocated a budget of ₹35 lakh for the polls this time..The polling began at the scheduled time of 10 AM on Friday (December 15) amidst heavy police presence and ended at 5 PM, as planned, said MHAA Teller Committee members, Senior Counsel MK Kabir and advocate V Srikanth..The Committee spent three months planning and making arrangements for the elections, from scrutinizing nomination papers to publishing the final voters' and contestants' list. The primary Committee members and volunteers arrived early on Friday morning at the Aavin Gate of the High Court where the polling booth had been set up for last-minute checks.To avoid confusion and any possibility of chaos, clear barricades were created and two large TV screens were installed near the booths to telecast the process, thus maintaining transparency. Volunteers were also seen constantly cautioning contestants against canvassing near the booths.All voters were frisked and no gowns and bags were allowed near the booths..Teller Committee members, MK Kabir, CT Mohan, V Srikanth, S Devika, S Shivashanmugam, C K Chandrasekkar and C Raja Kumar themselves were in charge of verifying each voter’s ID and voter slip.Earlier, concerns had been raised before the Madras High Court that one of the major reasons why the elections were stalled in January this year was because law students were allowed to volunteer with security arrangements at the poll booths, and the Committee's insistence on physically issuing voter slips..This time round, the voter slips were also uploaded on the MHAA website for eligible voters to download. Further, only the Committee, the CISF, and the Tamil Nadu police were put in charge of security arrangements.."We were committed this time to ensure nothing will go wrong. There wouldn't be any crowding, and there was no chance of violence or the process going awry. The Teller Committee worked round the clock for three months to ensure everything went smoothly this time," Tellar Committee member Kabir said..The names of the winning candidates for the posts of Vice President and other posts are likely to be announced later today. .“We expect the final counting will go on till midnight. We have come prepared to stay here till 2 am,” Srikanth said on Friday.