Plea in SC seeks direction to election committee for conducting SCBA polls through secret ballot

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking its immediate direction to the Election Committee, 2021 of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for conducting elections through secret ballot in physical form.

The petition has been filed by a lawyer, Pradeep Kumar Yadav.

Secret ballot utilises blank pieces of paper upon which each voter writes his or her choice. Without revealing the votes to anyone, the voter folds the ballot paper in half and places it in a sealed box. This box is later emptied for counting.

The SCBA is scheduled to conduct its elections on February 27. Recently, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi suggested that the SCBA elections should be held through virtual mode, citing the "probability of spread of COVID-19 in a large congregation."

Yadav, in his petition filed before the Apex Court, questioned that what is mechsm used by the agency to identify the real voter or no proxy voting will be done, and how it will be done?.

He also questioned how the SCBA can ensure that there will be no mismanagement in the election, which is a debatable issue.

The petitioner requested the apex court to direct the respondents to conduct the election strictly as per the by-law of the SCBA.

"The members of the SCBA are not ready to adapt the virtual or hybrid method of elections as most of the lawyers have gone back to their respective native places and there is a remote possibility to access to the internet and the virtual model of elections is not practical and if they do not vote, their valuable right will vsh," the plea stated.

( With inputs from ANI )