Counting of votes to start from May 10

LUCKNOW The counting of votes for the election of the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh will start from May 10 at the Council’s office at Allahabad high court.

The Supreme Court on May 2 paved way for counting of votes by directing the Bar Council of India to look into the matter relating to counting of votes of the Bar Council of UP.

“The counting process will start from May 10 and is likely to take five to six months to complete. It is a long process as preferential votes are counted and elimination of candidates also takes place during counting,” said Srinath Tripathi, former member of the Bar Council of UP.

Counting of votes will take place on six weekdays from 10 am to 5pm to select 25 members of the Bar Council of UP out of 298 candidates, who took part in the electoral process.

“As of now, the Bar Council’s office remains closed on Tuesday. If the election officer does not make any changes in this existing practice then there will be no counting of votes on Tuesday,” said Tripathi.

These 25 members will elect the chairman of the Bar Council of UP through an internal process.

Justice Rajmani Chauhan, former judge of the Allahabad high court, has been appointed election officer. While Justice Surendra Singh, former judge of the Allahabad high court, has been appointed as observer.

S Prabakaran, co-chairman, Bar Council of India, will also review the counting process.

The counting of votes will take place in alphabetical order of districts starting with Agra and ending with Varanasi.

Around 1.28 lakh lawyers verified by the Bar Council of UP out of total 1.67 lakh verified lawyers had exercised their right to vote in the UP Bar Council election. The voting took place in four phases on March 23, 24, 27 and 28.

The Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh is an apex body of lawyers of the state, a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961.