The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to consider a plea by an advocate for secret ballot in forthcoming poll for office bearers for the SC Bar Association on February 27, saying a voter cannot claim violation of fundamental right in online polls due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav sought a direction to conduct the election strictly by way of secret ballot in physical form adhering to the by-laws of the SCBA.
A bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and B R Gavai, however, asked Yadav to withdraw his petition.
During the course of the hearing, the bench asked the petitioner as to how Article 32 petition was maintainable.
To this, the petitioner replied, a 1995 Constitution bench judgment regarding the Bar Association said this.
"You are a voter here. There is no fundamental right violation," the bench said.
The election for office bearers of the SCBA is scheduled on February 27, Saturday, after the AIIMS New Delhi, opined for conducting the election through virtual mode, citing the "probability of spread of Covid-19 in large congregation."
Yadav questioned the mechanism used by the agency to identify the real voter or to ensure no proxy voting would be done.
He also said the members of the SCBA were not ready to adapt to the virtual or hybrid method of elections as most of the lawyers have gone back to their respective native places.
"There is a remote possibility to access to the internet and the virtual mode of elections is not practical and if they don’t vote, their valuable right will be vanished," he claimed.
(Published 25 February 2021, 13:21 IST)
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