ORDER

Per: Justice Vinay Saraf.

1. This writ petition is preferred by a practicing lawyer seeking following reliefs:-

In view of the submissions made herein above this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ/order/direction in the nature thereof, directing Respondent Nos.1 & 2.

(a) to comply with Clause 38 of its Election Bye-Laws by constituting a Returning Officer/Election Committee from amongst its senior-most members, and to withdraw the impugned Provisional Voter List published on 10/Jul/2026 and undertake the entire process afresh in accordance with law after due verification,

(b) to carry out a Special Intensive Revision/verification of the voter list of Respondent No.2 strictly in accordance with the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015, before finalising or publishing the final voter list and before proceeding further with the election for the term 2026-2028, by appointing one or more senior member(s) of the bar, as returning officer.

(c) to ensure implementation of the principle of “One Bar One Vote" vis-a-vis the Respondent No.3 , Madhya Pradesh High Court Advocates’ Bar Association Samiti , notwithstanding its registration as a society and the fact that it is not recognised by Respondent No.1, is a “Bar Association" within the meaning of Rule 4(g) of the 2015 Verification Rules and is treated as such by this Hon'ble Court for all practical purposes, so that no advocate who is a registered voter of Respondent No.3 and/or Respondent No.4 (District Bar Association Jabalpur) shall be permitted to be or continue as a voter of Respondent No.2, and direct that every such advocate be called upon to exercise a one-time, verifiable option indicating the single Bar Association of which he/she shall remain a voter;

(d) to delete the names of deceased advocates, non- verified/non-practising advocates, and advocates who are voters of Respondent No.3 and/or Respondent No.4, from its voter list of Respondent No.2;

(e) pass any other order(s) or direction(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case;

2. Mr. Amitabh Gupta, Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that the petitioner is enrolled in MP State Bar Council and is a member of Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association, Jabalpur, which is recognized by MP SBC. The petitioner wants to contest for the post of General Secretary in the ensuing election of Bar Association for the period 2026-2028. The petitioner is aggrieved by issuance of provisional voter list by the Office Bearer of Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association, Jabalpur for the ensuing election. The allegation of the petitioner is that the outgoing Executive Committee, which has already completed its term on 23rd May 2026, was under obligation to appoint Senior Members of the Bar as Returning Officer at least 45 days prior to the expiry of their terms but they have failed to appoint the Returning Officer till the date of filing the petition and published provisional voter list consisting several names of the Advocates those are members of Jabalpur District Bar Association, Madhya Pradesh High Court Advocates Bar Association. Several names of deceased Advocates and non-practitioners have also been included in the provisional list, which is in violation of the principle of 'One Bar One Vote', and their names ought to have been removed from the provisional voter list.

3. The petitioner submitted his objections to the provisional voter list, but the objections have not been considered till now and therefore, the petitioner preferred this writ petition seeking direction to the respondent Office Bearers of Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association to withdraw the impugned provisional voter list published on 10/07/2026 and undertake the entire process afresh. The petitioner is seeking direction to the State Bar Council for implementing principle of 'One Bar One Vote' a