New Delhi, Oct 13: A leading candidates in the Bar Council of Delhi elections today approached the Delhi High Court seeking appointment of a new Returning Officer to resume suspended counting of votes and complete the poll process at the earliest. Returning Officer S K Mendiratta had resigned on October 5, a day after he ordered suspension of counting during the second round following allegations of "interpolations" in the ballots. He had also "sealed" the ballots in the presence of the candidates.

Abhay Verma, who was among the leading candidates when the counting was suspended, urged the court to issue directions for appointment of a new returning officer and resumption of counting so that the new council could take over as soon as possible. The term of the previous council expired on September 30.

Advocate Sanjay Jain mentioned Verma's petition before a bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice A K Sikri, who directed the petition to be placed before an appropriate bench for hearing tomorrow.
More than 50 per cent of lawyers on the electoral rolls had cast their votes on September 29 and 30 at the Delhi High Court and the Tis Hazari court respectively to elect 25 office bearers of the council from among 146 candidates in the fray.

Bureau Report