Institute of Legal and Management Studies

In a plea alleging irregularities in the recently concluded elections of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the Supreme Court today indicated that it will set aside the elections if satisfied that the allegations have merit.

The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh by Senior Advocate Dr Adish Aggarwala.

The mentioning was pursuant to an application filed by the ex-SCBA president in SCBA v. BD Kaushik case, where a bench of Justices Kant and KV Viswanathan is considering issues pertaining to reforms in the Supreme Court Bar Association.

"If we are satisfied, we will set aside the election," Justice Surya Kant said, while asking Aggarwala to wait for the composition of the Special Bench comprising him and Justice Viswanathan.

"Wait for special bench…find out when J Viswanathan is sitting, I will list in that week. There is no question of listing today. Heavens won't fall," Justice Kant said.

Yesterday, a bench of Justices Kant and Viswanathan said that any member of the Bar who has a grievance regarding irregularities in the SCBA elections can approach the Court with proper material. While ordering preservation of the relevant CCTV footage, it also expressed that the Court would examine any allegation of gross illegality, including impersonation of voters, if substantiated with evidence.

Through his application, Aggarwala, who himself contested in the recent SCBA elections for the post of President, contends that the total number of votes received by all candidates, including invalid votes, amount to 2651, while the number of voting slips issued were 2588.

"This clearly indicates that 200 excess votes were found in the ballot boxes as compared to the 2588 slips issued to voters", the plea states. It is averred that there were not only discrepancies in the elections, but also "fraudulent acts" committed by some of the candidates.

He mentions that one of the Election Commissioners (Senior Advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani) supported President-elect Senior Advocate Vikas Singh and openly campaigned for him. "She openly states many times to voters that 'this is fourth and last term of Mr. Vikas Singh so vote for him next time I will contest for the post of President and Mr. Vikas Singh will Support me'...", the plea states.

As per the senior counsel, the Election Committee declared the results in connivance with President-elect Vikas Singh and ex-President Kapil Sibal, despite knowing that many votes remained uncounted.

It is also Aggarwala's allegation that Vikas Singh violated the model code of conduct, insofar as voters received a letter from him soliciting votes even on the evening of 19.05.2025 and 20.05.2025. Though a complaint was given by an SCBA member to the Election Committee, no action was taken, he says.

The application seeks inter-alia quashing of the election result for the post of President, a judicial enquiry into the elections by a Court-appointed committee and preservation of the election material.

The application is drawn by Advocates Vipin Kumar Bharti, Suraj Pathak and Ritesh Singh. It has been filed through AoR Kuldeep Jauhari.

Another application filed by 2 other members of SCBA

Another application filed by 2 other members of SCBA contends that the Election Committee constituted by the Court failed to conduct the elections as per guidelines.

The applicants urge that the voters' list continued to be published even after the date of nominations and the fresh voters' list was not prepared on the basis of 60 entries of proximity card in calendar year 2024. "the previous year voters list which had included 500 new voters on the basis of 30 proximity card entries in the year 2023 were remained included without verifying their 60 proximity card entries in the year 2024."

The applicants further claim that SCBA failed to stop involvement in the elections of persons who were not even advocates and bogus votes were cast. The plea adds that in the SCBA elections, no one was allowed to verify the voters. "the election committee deliberately did not publish voter list with photographs making it unable for the officers of the election committee to match the voters with the voters list".

Among other things, the applicants seeks setting aside of the elections, conduct of fresh elections and constitution of a committee (including Registrar of the Court and an independent person) to verify the election process.

Case Title: Supreme Court Bar Association v. BD Kaushik, Diary No. 13992/2023