Supreme Court Stays Delhi HC Directive, No Candidate Will Be Allowed To Contest For 2 Posts Simultaneously In Bar Elections In National Capital

Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) of India stayed the Delhi High Court (HC) directive which stated that, in bar elections in the National capital, no candidate will be allowed to contest for 2 posts simultaneously. The SC bench was hearing the challenge to the March 19 Delhi HC decision which disposed of a batch of petitions related to the issue of holding a uniform election in one day in respect of all bar Associations in the national capital as ‘One Bar One Vote’. The two-judge bench of the SC, Justice BR Gavai, and Justice KV Viswanathan, directed the stay of the impugned order and said, "Until further orders, there shall be stay of impugned orders passed by the High Court. Needless to state that the pendency of the present appeals would not amount to staying the elections of any of the bodies."

The Delhi HC, in its judgment, said,  “One day elections of all the Bar Associations shall avoid the interference of members of other Bar Associations, besides avoiding overcrowding by the supporters of a candidate who is contesting elections to other Bar Associations. The fixed term of two years will enable the respective Bar Associations to work effectively for the welfare of its members and will give sufficient time to implement various welfare schemes.” It added, “The exercise of holding a uniform election on one day for all the Bar Associations should be held only after the exercise of preparing proper ID/Proximity Cards and RFID for all lawyers is completed, so as to ensure that the elections are conducted in a fair and transparent manner,” the court said while directing its Registry to issue ID or Proximity Cards and RFID to all the members of the Bar Associations within six months.”