NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the counting of votes for the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) polls over tampering allegations and directed the Delhi High Court to conduct day-to-day hearings on the connected petitions.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Birender Sangwan.
The BCD elections were held in February under the supervision of retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Talwant Singh, who served as the returning officer. On February 22, 67 candidates, including two senior advocates, were placed under summary suspension for alleged large-scale violations of the Model Code of Conduct and the Election Rules, 2023.
On Monday, the CJI also transferred the matter to a division bench of the Delhi High Court, urging the Chief Justice to constitute a special bench to hear the dispute.
“Learned counsels for the parties have fairly agreed that since effective adjudication of controversy might require summoning of original records, such as ballot papers, etc., it would be apt, if the matter is entrusted to a division bench of the Delhi High Court. Consequently, we transfer these petitions to the Delhi High Court with a request to the Chief Justice to list the same before a special bench within this week,” the bench ordered.