Advocates protest over Bar Council election irregularities
Hyderabad: Advocates staged a protest outside gate 6 of the high court on Thursday afternoon, challenging the Bar Council of India’s decision to amend election rules on the third day of vote counting for the State Bar Council polls.
The elections were conducted on January 30, with counting commencing on February 10 at the Telangana Bar Council within the HC complex. By February 11, only five of the 32 ballot-boxes from the HC had been opened and counted. During the first two days of counting, election officials and contestants observed a substantial number of invalid votes.
The primary issue centred on ballot papers where preferences were marked as “two” or “three” in small letters or mixed, which were treated as invalid. Additional concerns arose regarding ballots where voters indicated preferences using numerals such as 1, 2, or 3, including instances where they appeared with quotation marks or inverted commas.
On February 11, the Bar Council of India issued a clarification to Justice Dr Gurugubelli Yethirajulu, the Returning Officer for the elections, addressing concerns raised in a representation dated February 10 by P Vishnu Vardhana Reddy, an advocate and contestant.
