CUTTACK: Around 34,900 lawyers are expected to exercise their franchise in the elections to Odisha State Bar Council, scheduled to be held on Saturday. As many as 96 candidates are in fray for the polls. The elections will be held from 10 am to 5 pm at 167 polling stations across the state.
While allowing judicial officers to act as polling officers, the Orissa High Court has declared Saturday as a holiday itself and subordinate courts. Retired Justice Pramath Patnaik will be the returning officer along with advocates Basudev Pujari and Prafulla Kumar Rath as assistant returning officers, the official release said.
The State Bar Council elections were last conducted in 2014. The council’s term expired in May 2019, but was extended for six months by the Bar Council of India (BCI).After the extended term lapsed in November 2019, the BCI had constituted a special committee to carry forward the state council.
The elections could not be conducted after the expiry of its five-year term in May 2019 as the verification process for identification of the non-practising advocates had not been completed. Non-practising advocates are those who had enrolled with the State Bar Council for an advocate licence but were not found to be practising in any court.
On completion of the verification process, around 22,000 advocates were identified as non-practising advocates and did not find place in the final electoral roll which was published on February 23.