Delhi High Court Refuses To Interfere In BCD Election Process, Says Result Shall Be Declared Only After Reconciliation Of Votes

The Delhi High Court on Thursday clarified that the results of Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) elections 2026, shall be declared only after the reconciliation of votes and ballots is concluded.

Justice Amit Bansal said so while dealing with the petition filed by 9 candidates alleging discrepancy in the votes polled and officially counted during the elections.

The BCD polls were conducted from February 21 to 23 under the supervision of retired Justice Talwant Singh who was appointed the Returning Officer. The counting process is currently underway.

The petitioners challenged the decision of the RO dated March 20 and sought a direction that the process of reconciliation should be carried out forthwith, while the counting process is going on.

The RO, in the impugned decision, assured the candidates that the reconciliation process of all the votes will take place after the counting gets over.

The counsel appearing for the petitioners however submitted that there will be no point of reconciliation once the winners are disclosed.

The counsel appearing for BCD explained the reconciliation process and said that all the votes and ballots have to be reconciled so as to verify how many votes were actually polled. He said that the process was followed in the last election as well in 2018.

The counsel also submitted that this year, the counting of votes, which is happening at S Block of the High Court can be seen on YouTube, with cameras on the floor.

The counsel also said that the process not only involves Justice Singh as RO, but there are 21 additional ROs, 20 counting observers who are lawyers including Senior Advocates and a number of other lawyers to safeguard the interests of the candidates.

The petitioners' counsel said that on the first day of voting on February 21, it was official announced that approximately 17,500 votes were polled but when the first voting got over, it was declared that 17,799 votes were polled on the first day.

The counsel said that there is a discrepancy of around 214 votes regarding the first day of voting, adding that the situation on ground is very different.

On this, the Court noted that the RO has already assured the candidates that reconciliation will take place once counting is over.

Justice Bansal said that he cannot interfere in the election process and that the credentials of the retired judge cannot be doubted.

“I can't interfere in the election process. I am not the one to dictate the process which he has to follow. He is not rejecting your demand. He is saying he will do it later. In a (Article) 226 (petition) I will not impose my decision on him. He is the person on ground and his credentials cannot be doubted,” Justice Bansal remarked orally.

Accordingly, the Court closed the matter, saying that no ground of interference with the RO's decision was made out.

“The grievance is adequately addressed by the RO that the reconciliation process will be done once the counting (of votes) is over...Needless to state that the results of the election shall be declared only after the reconciliation process is over,” the Court said.

As the counsel for BCD objected to the maintainability of the plea, the Court recorded that in light of the order passed, the Court need not go into the aspect of maintainability which will be kept open.

Title: ANUSHKAA ARORA & ORS v. BCD