New Delhi: Delhi Police has registered a case on a complaint filed by the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD), alleging manipulation during its recently concluded election process.Polling for the BCD elections was held on Feb 21, 22 and 23, with 221 candidates in the fray. The alleged irregularities came to light on April 15 at around 11.30 am during the elimination round of counting under the preferential voting system.“The process of counting in the BCD elections is conducted through a preferential system. After the counting of first-preference votes is completed, the candidates who receive the fewest votes are eliminated one by one,” the complainant said.The complaint further alleged that the same pattern was repeated across multiple ballots, resulting in alleged wrongful gain to some candidates and corresponding loss to others.The council alleged that during the elimination of the 80th candidate, irregularities were detected in several ballots. It was found that in many cases, the next-best preference (second preference) appeared to have been altered, with a fresh preference written in favour of certain candidates.Following the detection of the irregularities, the Election Committee conducted an internal inquiry and identified a member of the counting staff as the person allegedly involved.A case has been registered under Sections 318 (cheating), 336 (forgery), 340 (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
