APHC010142342026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction)

TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY SIX PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE NINALA JAYASURYA WRIT PETITION No.7531 OF 2026 Between:

1. Bolisetti Gowri Mani, D/o.Satyanarayana, Age 51 years, Occ:Advocate, Door No.2-2-16/1A1, Pithapuram Town, Pithapuram Mandal, Kakinada District, Andhra Pradesh -

533450.

2. Arshia Farheen, D/o. M.A. Aslam Age 32 years, Occ Advocate, Door No. 34/33, Kummeri Street, Kurnool City, Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh - 518001.

3. Gara Suseela, D/o. Ramakrishna Rao, Age 51 years, Occ Advocate, Door No. 71-31-1308, Kakaralova, Gandhinagaram Post, Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh - 530005.

4. Pyda Vijaya Lakshmi, W/o. Vijaya Sanyasi Rao, Age 68 years, Occ Advocate, Door No. 8-4-53/1, Sundara Prasanthi Nagar, Visakhapatnam City, Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh -

530016.

5. Mallela Narmada, D/o. Venkata Rao, Age 52 years, Occ Advocate, Door No. 8-5-118, 6th Lane, Siva Sadan, Guntur City, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh - 522002.

...Petitioners AND

1. The Bar Council of India, Rep. by its Secretary, 21, Rouse Avenue Institutional Area, Near Bal Bhavan, New Delhi -

110002.

2. The Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Ground Floor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh Building, Nelapadu, Amaravati, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh -

522239.

3. The Returning Officer, Elections to the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, Ground Floor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh Building, Nelapadu, Amaravati, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh - 522239.

...Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ or order, orders or directions more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in eliminating the women contestants just like men contestants from downwards to upwards basing on securing lesser votes only after completion of counting of first preferential votes without doing the same only after counting the second preferential votes as the Clause-21 of the Order dt.09-02-2026 of the High-Powered Election Supervisory Committee and also the action of the respondents in general and also the 3rd respondent in particular in counting the invalid votes as valid, contrary to the Clause-4 of the Instruction to Voters issued by the 2nd respondent and further the action of the 2nd respondent in not issuing the procedure to be followed for counting of the vote just like done by the Bar Council of the State of Telangana Hyderabad vide ROC.Ele.No.108/2026, dt.29-01-2026 as illegal, arbitrary, discriminative besides violative of Orders of the High-Powered Election Supervisory Committee besides violative of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents in general, 3rd respondent in particular to recount the second preferential votes casted in favour of the women contestants and after the same only go for elimination process of the women contestants besides recounting the total votes only to see not to count the invalid votes as valid votes or otherwise, to reconduct Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh elections again only for women contestants.

IA No.1 of 2026 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased may be pleased to grant stay in declaring the results of the elections to the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh for women contestants alone; if already declared, suspend the operation of said declaration of results only in respect of women contestants.

Counsel for the Petitioners : Mr.Peeta Raman Counsel for the Respondents: Mr.P.Narahari Babu The Court made the following ORDER:

Mr.D.Praveen Kumar, learned counsel representing Mr.Peeta Raman, learned counsel for the petitione