Bar Council polls hit by chaos, voting cancelled at four Raj centres

Jaipur: Voting for the Bar Council of Rajasthan (BCR) elections faced significant disruption Wednesday, with polling cancelled at four key stations due to allegations of irregularities, mismanagement, and disorder.The affected polling stations included the Rajasthan High Court’s Jaipur bench, as well as sessions courts in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Raisinghnagar. Re-polling at these locations will be scheduled at a later date, according to BCR officials. Polling at other locations across the state was completed peacefully.The elections, being held after eight years and delayed by nearly three years in Rajasthan, contributed to heightened tension among the legal community.

A total of 234 candidates, including 57 women, were vying for 23 available posts on the council.Voting commenced at 9am, an hour later than scheduled, and was said to be slow throughout the morning. Tensions escalated as lawyers expressed concerns over potential bogus voting and rigging. Protests erupted at both the high court and sessions court in Jaipur, with advocates accusing the election process of inadequate preparation and organisation.

The situation worsened prior to noon, resulting in the BCR election committee annulling the polling at the high court and Jaipur sessions court on grounds of mismanagement. Eyewitness accounts and videos shared on social media depicted advocates tearing up ballot papers amid chaotic scenes, further compounding allegations of candidates soliciting votes within polling premises.Former Justice Vinod Shankar Dave, aged 94, was the first to cast his vote in Jaipur after polling began late.

Following the abrupt cancellation, Justice Dave termed it a “major failure of the process,” highlighting the dissatisfaction felt by many within the legal community regarding the election conduct.The BCR elections, overseen by a committee appointed by the Supreme Court, had set up a total of 258 polling booths across Rajasthan. The high court’s Jaipur bench housed the largest booth, with nearly 14,781 advocate voters registered, contributing to the city’s status as having the highest number of total voters at around 22,000. Additional polling locations in Jaipur included sessions courts, family courts, and subordinate courts in Amer and Sanganer.