Six candidates challenge SCBA election results, seek recounting of ballots

Six candidates have approached the Supreme Court challenging SCBA executive member election results, alleging irregularities and manipulation during counting. They sought quashing of the results and recounting of ballots under the Election Committee’s supervision, claiming inadequate transparency and discrepancies in vote tallies

New Delhi: Six candidates who contested the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections for the post of executive member have approached the Supreme Court challenging the election results and sought recounting of the ballot papers, alleging irregularities and manipulation during the counting process.

The application, filed through (Advocate-on-Record) AOR Dr Vipin Gupta, seeks quashing of the result for the post and a fresh counting of the ballots under the supervision of the SCBA Election Committee.

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The applicants — Smriti Kumari, Shweta Sinha, Shehla Chaudhary, Sundari, Sachin Pahwa and Krishna Kumar Gupta — alleged that the counting process was not conducted fairly and that certain candidates received an advantage due to the manner in which the votes were tallied.

According to the plea, polling for the SCBA elections was held on August 18, while counting for the posts of president, vice-president, honorary secretary, joint secretary and treasurer was completed the same day.

However, counting for executive members began only on the evening of August 19 and continued till August 20, with the results eventually announced on August 21, it said. The applicants alleged that volunteers associated with certain candidates were allowed to participate in the counting process, compromising the fairness and transparency of the exercise.

One of the candidates, in a representation submitted to the election committee on August 20, claimed that discrepancies were noticed between the votes announced at the end of successive rounds and the tally maintained by her.

The applicants also raised concerns over changes in the method of tallying, the discovery of blank ballots whose status was allegedly unclear, inadequate transparency and what they described as a hurried declaration of the results despite their representations.

They claimed that their objections were brought to the election committee’s notice during the counting but were neither properly addressed nor resolved before the results were declared. The plea said the candidate placed last among those elected as executive members secured 436 votes and claimed that a proper recount could potentially alter the outcome.

The applicants contended that transparency and fairness are essential to any democratic election and alleged that the election committee’s failure to address their complaints undermined the credibility of the process.

They have urged the Supreme Court to declare the result null and void and direct the SCBA Election Committee to conduct a recount of all relevant ballot papers. The application also seeks such other directions as may be considered necessary to ensure a fair determination of the election results.