Election Tribunal puts oath ceremony of Rohini Court Bar Association Executive Committee on hold

An election tribunal on Monday restrained the Returning Officer of the Rohini Court Bar Association (RCBA) from holding the oath ceremony of newly elected executive committee members of RCBA following allegations of discrepancies in the polling process [Geeta Sharma & Anr. v. The Returning Officer, Rohini Court Bar Association Elections 2025 & Ors.].The tribunal comprising of Chairman RP Dhania and Members IS Sharma and Indu Shekhar passed the order after the petitioners claimed that an oath ceremony for the newly elected RCBA executive committee was scheduled to take place on March 2.Although the Court observed that the invitations for the ceremony did not mention an oath ceremony, it still passed an order restraining the Returning Officer from holding the oath ceremony till further orders. "The petitioners have submitted an urgent application in respect of facilitation ceremony to be celebrated on dated 02.04.2025 at 4:00 PM mentioning therein that the newly executive committee on RCBA is goin to take the oath. However, in the said facilitation ceremony/invitation it is not mentioned that any oath cermony would take place or be celebrated on 02.04.2025. However, considering the contentions of the petitioners raised in the petition in respect of election dated 21.03.2025 by them the Defendants have been restrained to celebrate the oath ceremony till further order of the tribunal,” the tribunal said in April 1 order..The Delhi High Court had earlier directed all Bar associations in the national capital to conduct elections for their executive bodies on March 2. Pursuant to this order, the RCBA held its elections but it got embroiled in controversy after several lawyers approached the Delhi High Court, alleging discrepancies in the electoral process. However, the High Court refused to entertain the petition and instead directed the petitioners to raise their grievances before the election tribunal..Subsequently, the petitioners moved the tribunal, citing multiple irregularities in the voting process. They alleged that 34 votes were cast without proximity cards and bogus polling was rampant, with over 15 advocates casting votes despite being outside India.According to the petition, the unusually high voter turnout of 95%—far exceeding the historical average of 75%—raised further concerns. The absence of a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the lack of surveillance measures such as cameras outside polling booths, were also flagged.The petitioners further contended that the names of advocates assigned to election duty were not disclosed until polling day. It was also alleged that most of those deployed were from the chamber of outgoing Secretary Manjit Mathur, raising apprehensions of bias in the electoral process..[Read Order]