The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the votes cast for the Junior Executive Member post in the recently concluded Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections be recounted once more. .One round of vote recount for all posts had already been done on Monday, after allegations were made by certain lawyers that there was bogus voting and other irregularities during the first count. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan today opined that the election committee that oversaw the conduct of the SCBA elections has done a satisfactory job of recounting votes.However, the Court said that one more vote recount should be done for votes cast to select the Junior Executive Members of SCBA (nine in total), to eliminate any lingering doubts. "We have impressed upon the election committee to hold a recount to satisfy some of the aggrieved members. Since some of the members are not there during partial working days.. Secretary General is directed to assist the above mentioned recounting. The recounting of the votes of junior executive member shall be done in the presence of candidates or nominees and none shall be allowed to interrupt and if any report is sent to us strong action will be taken," the Court ordered. Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh emerged as the clear winner of the president post after recount. Singh even managed to raise his victory margin after recount, putting to rest all allegations surrounding the presidential post. .The Court also strongly criticised Senior Advocate Dr. Adish C Aggarwala, for raising allegations of bias against election committee members. Aggarwala had unsuccessfully contested for the post of SCBA president and had lost to Vikas Singh.The Court termed his allegations frivolous and scandalous and rejected them. "We advise Bar members to not indulge in such propaganda ... which affects the integrity of the institution," the Court had initially recorded in its order. However, after the Court censured him, Aggarwala withdrew his allegations. "We do not pass any orders in Mr Aggarwala's plea since he has unconditionally withdrawn his allegations," the Court proceeded to record, in its modified order. .During the hearing, Justice Kant urged Aggarwala not to make such sweeping allegations and to be respectful, even if he wants to express dissent. The Court underscored that its aim is only to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly. Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai had also expressed concerns that there were issues with the vote recount. However, the Court ultimately observed that the election committee should be trusted to have done its job. "Should we not trust them (the election committee members) now? We need a robust system as it is an annual feature to ensure transparency.. It's a commendable job by the election committee ... They worked as our extended hands," Justice Kant orally observed..Senior Advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani, an election committee member, added that the committee has only received 14 complaints when it came to the Executive Member elections.The Court, however, urged the committee to do one more round of recount for the votes cast with respect to SCBA's Junior Executive Members. .Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, also an election committee member, said that the committee team was mentally exhausted from having to repeatedly carry out the vote-counting process. Earlier in the hearing, Justice Viswanathan too had observed that the election committee's work is not easy. "Mr Aggarwala, you have been a voter. You know how the election committee conducts this, in the summer. If you start browbeating them like this or threaten them ... we will not tolerate. They are our officers and we will ensure that nothing happens to them," he said..The SCBA elections were held on May 20. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh was declared the winner for the post of President, defeating Senior Advocates Adish C Aggarwala and Pradeep Kumar Rai. Senior Advocate Rahul Kaushik was elected Vice-President, and Advocate Pragya Baghel was elected Secretary.However, following allegations of vote count discrepancies and other irregularities, the matter reached the Court. A vacation bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta heard the issue on May 26, after candidates claimed that the number of votes counted exceeded the number of ballot slips issued.Yesterday, the election committee told the Court that it was proposing to do a vote recount. Accordingly, the Court ordered the votes to be recounted for the post of President and all executive members, and a report be placed before it regarding the same. It clarified that results shall be declared only after the Court has gone through the said report.“Let no candidate should have any doubt. Let there be recounting for all elections wherever this is a complaint," the Court said. The recount that took place yesterday saw Senior Advocate Vikas Singh again being declared the winner for the post of SCBA President. .[Read Live Coverage]
