Lucknow, Sep 25 The Allahabad High Court on Friday took a serious note of the alleged looting of ballot boxes during the Sultanpur District Bar Association elections and directed the district judge to identify the advocates involved on the basis of CCTV footage and submit a report before the next date of hearing.
A Lucknow bench of justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by Shashi Mishra.
The court observed that prima facie, the incident amounted not only to an offence but also contempt of its order.
It also directed the Superintendent of Police, Sultanpur to monitor the investigation into the FIR registered at Kotwali police station and submit a progress report. It directed that the investigation be conducted independently and without influence from any quarter.
The court was informed that the Bar Association elections were held peacefully on September 9 in compliance with its earlier orders.
Counting began the following day and was proceeding peacefully when around 3.30 pm, some advocates present at the counting venue allegedly looted the ballot boxes, bringing the entire election process to a halt.
The court was further informed that on the following day, the lock of the room where the ballot boxes were kept was broken and the CCTV DVR and footage were tampered with. An FIR in connection with the incident was registered on September 14.
The high court directed the district judge to conduct an inquiry with the assistance of the Elders Committee and other members of the Bar to identify those involved in the incident. The district judge has also been asked to examine CCTV footage installed in the district judgeship and submit a report naming the persons or advocates found responsible.
The court clarified that the inquiry would relate to the conduct of advocates under the Advocates Act, 1961, the Contempt of Courts Act and Article 215 of the Constitution, while the FIR investigation would proceed separately under criminal law.
The court directed that the disrupted elections be held afresh.
The district judge and Elders Committee have been asked to finalise the mechanism and schedule for polling and counting within a week and notify the Bar members.
The district administration has been directed to provide necessary security arrangements. The matter will next be heard on October 22.
