RAMAN GANDHI Vs. BAR COUNCIL OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) INTRODUCTION : The present batch of Petitions has been received on transfer from the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, whereby the Special Leave Petitions being SLP(C) Nos. 17499-17501 of 2026, titled Birender Sangwan v. High Powered Election Supervisory Committee & Ors. ("SLPs") filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court have been transferred to this Court and re-numbered as W.P.(C) 7531/2026, W.P.(C) 7532/2026 and W.P.(C) 7533/2026 ("Writ Petitions"). W.P.(C) No. 7972/2026, Rudra Vikram Singh v. Bar Council of Delhi & Ors., was not part of the SLPs filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and was directly filed before the learned Single Judge of this Court, who vide order dtd. 29/5/2026 transferred the said petition to this Bench in view of constitution of this Bench to hear the Writ Petitions.

(2.) All these petitions arise out of the election of Bar Council of Delhi ("BCD") held in the precincts of this Court on 21/2/2026, 22/2/2026 and 23/2/2026, in which 221 candidates contested for 23 posts under the preferential voting system ("BCD Election"). First-preference counting was undertaken from 7/3/2026 to 9/4/2026. Elimination-based counting of subsequent preferences began on 13/4/2026, when 45 candidates were eliminated, followed by 28 more on 14/4/2026.

(3.) During the 80th elimination, a member of the counting staff was found to have altered / manipulated voter preferences on certain ballot papers. Accordingly, counting was halted, FIR No. 45/2026 ("FIR") was registered at P.S. Tilak Marg, and the accused was identified and produced before the police on 15/4/2026.