'No Hanky-Panky In SCBA President Election, Only Bona Fide Counting Error' : Supreme Court; Adish Aggarwala Withdraws Complaint

The Supreme Court on Monday orally observed that there appeared to be “no hanky-panky” in the conduct of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections for the post of President and that the discrepancy in vote count seemed to be a bona fide error.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan was hearing applications challenging the SCBA election results. Senior Advocates Dr Adish Aggarwala and Pradeep Rai, who lost the elections to the President post to Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, had filed applications questioning the results.In view of the complaints, the SCBA election committee had decided to recount the votes. The bench noted during the hearing that after the recount, 75 votes were found to be less than the original count, however, this did not materially affect the final results.Justice Kant said, “It does not seem to be a case of hanky-panky, just a bona fide error." The bench also took on record an unconditional apology by Senior Advocate Dr Adish Aggarwala, after rebuking him for making baseless allegations against the Election Committee appointed to oversee the elections. Justice Kant initially dictated an order observing that the complaint of Aggarwala contained baseless and scandalous allegations and issued a warning to the Bar against making such statements. He rebuked Aggarwala, saying, “You don't understand!? Such a seasoned person!” The Court gave him an opportunity to withdraw the allegations, which he did. Thereafter, order was modified to record that Dr Aggarwala had unconditionally withdrawn his undesirable comments, and in that view, no further directions were issued. The Court also requested the Election Committee to hold a recount for the nine Junior Executive Member posts to address concerns of aggrieved members. “As regard to election of 9 Junior Executive Members, we have impressed upon EC to hold recount to satisfy some aggrieved members. Since some members of EC are not available during the Partial Working Days, we have requested them to undertake the exercise immediately after the courts open and all of them are available. The Supreme Court to provide adequate staff for recounting. Recounting shall be done in presence of candidates/nominees. However, they shall not interrupt.” The Court was hearing the matter Supreme Court Bar Association v. BD Kaushik, which pertains to reforms in the SCBA. The recently concluded elections of SCBA courted controversy when some complaints were filed by members of the Association alleging irregularities in the manner of the elections' conduct. These included allegations of bogus voting and bias on the part of members of the Election Committee constituted by the Court. During the hearing, Dr Aggarwala alleged irregularities and sought that questions be put to the Election Committee in chamber. However, Justice Kant said the hearing should take place in open court for transparency and cautioned Aggarwala, “You have been ex-President...we don't expect you to make sweeping, avoidable kind of allegations. Even if there is dissent, you must remain respectful.” Aggarwala submitted that he had written a letter alleging that Vikas Singh had solicited votes even after the debate had ended. He also questioned the neutrality of the Election Committee. A complaint had also been filed against Aggarwala himself, alleging that gifts were distributed to influence voters. Justice Kant responded that the Court was only concerned with transparency and fairness, and noted that the Committee had not been expected to act on every issue raised. Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai, who was the runner-up in the election, said that during the recount held on Sunday, the number of votes counted for the President post was 2580, whereas the declared result on May 20 had recorded 2651 votes. He submitted that each vote had been shown on camera and counted. Rai further stated that 2593 ballots were issued, and questioned how the final count could be 2651. He also mentioned that one voter, Chandan Kumar, had approached him claiming his vote had already been cast when he arrived to vote. However, it was clarified during the hearing that there were two voters with the name Chandan Kumar. Rai insisted he was not making allegations against the Election Committee but suggested a re-election as a solution. “There can't be any doubt on dignity of EC members,” he said. Justice Kant responded, “They acted bonafide. You've been very graceful. What you said makes sense.” He reiterated that the Committee's conduct showed no indication of malpractice. Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria, a member of the Election Committee, objected to being branded as part of Vikas Singh's team, saying “To brand us as cricket team of Vikas Singh, that hurts.” Justice Kant replied, “Never take Dr Aggarwala seriously.” Justice Viswanathan asked whether any ballots for the President's post were found in boxes of Executive...

'No Hanky-Panky In SCBA President Election, Only Bona Fide Counting Error' : Supreme Court; Adish Aggarwala Withdraws Complaint

Debby Jain & Amisha Shrivastava

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