Bar Council of Delhi issues voter list eligibility criteria for AIBE-qualified lawyers for February elections

The notice is issued by the Bar Council of Delhi on January 14. (Image is enhanced using AI)

Who is qualified to vote in Bar Council of Delhi elections

• All advocates who were provisionally enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi, have qualified the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and submitted their verification forms on the bar council web portal on or before November 30, 2025, will be eligible to participate in the electoral process.
• Even those candidates whose AIBE results were earlier shown as “deferred/withheld” but who have since qualified will also be included in the voters’ list.

• However, candidates who applied for inclusion of their names but failed to submit the verification form on or before November 30, 2025, will not be included in the voters’ list for the upcoming election.

‘Notice compliance from court order’

• The notice was issued in compliance with the order dated January 7, in which a batch of petitioners, who were represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, had their voting rights restored with the passing of the same.
• The high court noted that the Supreme Court had constituted a special committee to supervise bar council elections and directed the committee to examine the representations expeditiously before finalisation of the electoral roll.
• In a special committee meeting held on January 9, the representations submitted by the petitioners concerning the inclusion of their names in the ensuing elections of the Bar Council of Delhi were deliberated upon and decided.

Background of case

The petitioners, having a valid law degree, enrolled with the state bar council and filed their verification form on the Bar Council of Delhi web portal. Despite appearing in courts, filing vakalatnamas and arguing matters, they were arbitrarily excluded from the electoral roll solely because the All India Bar Examination results were not declared at that time.

Senior advocate Pahwa called this decision far more than an “electoral correction”.

“A profession that stands for constitutional rights, fairness and democratic values must first ensure that those very principles are upheld within its own institutional framework, he added.