Gujarat High Court: The ‘One Bar, One Vote’ principle was upheld by the Delhi High Court as also confirmed by the Supreme Court in May last year and in pursuance to it, the Bar Council of India has passed Resolution No. 169 of 2015 where all the Bar Associations in the country are required to follow the principle of ‘one bar one vote’ for holding the elections to the Bar Association. It means that an advocate can vote only once in one bar association, without regard to his membership of various Bar Associations.
In a recent case, the issue was that the elections to the Rajkot Bar Association was being held in breach of the principle of ‘one bar one vote’. The counsel for the petitioner based his contentions entirely on the latest judgment of Delhi High Court in P. K. Dash v. Bar Council of Delhi, 2016 SCC OnLine Del 3493. The Court took into consideration the principle laid down in this case and issued the notice to the respondent Bar Association. Though it refrained itself from staying the elections, it directed to stay the results of the elections until further orders would be passed by the Court after hearing the parties on the issue. [Hemalkumar Bhupendrabhai Gohel v. President, Bar Association of Rajkot, Special Civil Application No. 952 of 2017, decided on 20.01.2017]
