In A First, Five Women Lawyers Elected To Bar Council Of Maharashtra & Goa

In a first, a total of five female advocates have been elected to the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa (BCMG), after the recently concluded elections to the bar body. 

There are also 18 male advocates elected to be Bar body. After a complex preferential votes counting, a total of 23 advocates have been elected with Advocate Parijat Pandey securing the highest votes.

The women advocates elected are:

1. Ranjana Bhosale,

2. Kshitija Wadatkar,

3. Anita Castellino,

4. Madhavi Potdar and

5. Uma Bhattad.

This is for the first time five women lawyers have been elected to the Bar body. This comes after the Supreme Court ordered reservation of seats for women lawyers.

Other advocates elected are: Parijat Pandey, Ganesh Shirsat, Rajendra Umap, Ashish Deshmukh, Milind Thobde, Sangram Desai, Jayant Jaibhave, Vitthal Konde-Deshmukh, Rajendra Anbhule, Uday Warunjikar, Gajanan Chavan, Vasant Salunkhe, Vikas Dhage-Patil, Satish Deshmukh, Dnyaneshwar Bagul, Vivekanand Ghatge, Asif Qureshi, Ahmedkhan Pathan.

Around 14 of these lawyers had also won during the previous elections. A third time elected lawyer, Warunjikar, told Live Law, "I am really thankful to all voters who have given me this third consecutive term in the bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. In the present time when lawyers are under pressure, attack and in need of a protection, I feel that I will be able to discharge my duties as a member of the bar, Counsellor, Maharashtra, and Goa to the satisfaction of my voters."

Speaking about the historic win for women lawyers, Castellino said, "For decades, women argued cases before our courts in India. Five women on the Bar Council may appear to be a mere number on paper, but in our institutional history, it marks the beginning of something representative and a long-overdue correction. We are grateful to the Supreme Court for giving us women a representation in the BCMG. Had it not been for it, again BCMG would not have had a women representation. The Supreme Court has given us a place at the table which till now was a males domain."

With the elections now concluded, the bar body would notify it's new President in due course.