MP Bar Council Election : Supreme Court Gives Time To Advocates Excluded From Voters' List To Rectify Defects
Debby Jain
6 May 2026 4:54 PM IST
The Election Committee should publish a revised list to include the advocates who cured the defects within the extended time.
The Supreme Court recently allowed members of a District Bar Association in Madhya Pradesh to take remedial steps against their exclusion from the State Bar Council's electoral rolls, whereupon their claims shall be reconsidered by the Election Committee to be allowed to vote in the elections.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was dealing with a plea filed by District Bar Association, Katni and one of its members. The petitioners sought inclusion of names of the excluded advocates in the electoral rolls for the upcoming MP State Bar Council elections.
Upon hearing the parties, the Court noted that initially about 235 advocates, who were members of the petitioner-Association, were excluded from the electoral rolls. After the Bar Association made a representation, 183 names were re-included but 52 advocates remained excluded.
From a note placed on record by the Returning Officer (former High Court judge), the Court further observed that an advocate enrolled with the MP Bar Council was entitled to be included in the voter's list on the following conditions:
“1. He/she must have deposited the requisite Advocates Welfare Fund, as per the AWF Rules, 2001.
2. He/she has complied with the Certificate and Place of Practice Rule, 2015,
3. As provided in the same Rule he/she has furnished the “Declaration Form.
4. He/she has passed the All India Bar Examination (AIBE), as per the direction of the BCI memo No.BCI/15- 16/STBC CIR No. 4/2013 dtd.12.4.2013.”
As the specific reasons for exclusion of the approx. 50 advocates were stated to have been notified on the State Bar Council website, the Court permitted the advocates to take remedial steps and do away with the deficiencies within 2 days.
It ordered that if the advocates clear the deficiencies and and comply with the requirements, their claims shall be reconsidered by the High Powered Election Committee. Thereafter, the voter's list shall be revised through an addendum by May 9.
Disposing of the petition, the Court added that those who are added in the revised list shall be entitled to vote in the election (scheduled for May 12).
Notably, the petitioners' counsel alleged that across more than 50 Bar Associations, a total of 50,000 advocates had been excluded from the roll. The bench however restricted its order to the petitioner-Association's members, being of the view that voting right could not be claimed in rem and the advocates/Associations were required to approach the Court to seek an order in their favor.
"A voting right is an individual right. If a person chooses not to exercise it, we are not there to [...].Your clients have approached us, we have given them relief. That is all. It's not a right in rem. A person must approach us", said Justice Bagchi.
Appearance; Mr. Siddharth R. Gupta, Adv., Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR, Mr. Yogesh Soni, Adv., Mr. Shantanu Sharma, Adv., Mr. Uddaish Palya, Adv., Ms. Surbhi Saxena, Adv., Ms. Astha Singh, Adv., Mr. Aman Agarwal, Adv. (for petitioners); Mr. Guru Krishna Kumar, Sr.Adv., Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv., Mr. Harsh Parashar, Adv. (for respondents)
Case Title: DISTRICT BAR ASSOCIATION, KATNI & ANR. VERSUS BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA & ORS., WP(C) No(s). 564/2026