Nagpur: The High Court Bar Association’s (HCBA) election committee has finalized names of 37 lawyers for contesting its much awaited polls on March 12 that were deferred by about a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their nominations were cleared after a scrutiny by panel members on Thursday. The candidates can still withdraw their nominations till March 3 and the final list would be declared on the same day at 4.45pm.
A multi-pronged fight is on the cards for most of the posts, except treasurer and secretary where only two candidates have filed their nominations. However, unlike the 2017 polls, none of the big names are keen to contest this time around. Many groups and individuals have already started campaigning clandestinely since one year. The contesting candidates are either from various groups or are in the fray as independents.
For the president’s post, four candidates are in contention. They included VG Bhamburkar, Atul Pande, Shridhar Purohit and Sameer Sohoni, who’s being projected by a group led by Shreeerang Bhandarkar.
Bhamburkar has contested many polls, albeit unsuccessfully. He is throwing his hat in the ring this time as well.
For the secretary’s post, Amol Jaltare and Rugved Dhore would have a straight contest while Mangesh Bute and Madhav Lakhe would battle for the treasurer’s post. For the two posts of vice presidents, there is a battle between Shreeganesh Abhyankar, Sharad Bhattad, Rajesh Nayak and Pankaj Tidke.
THE CONTENDERS
* President — VG Bhamburkar, Atul Pande, Shridhar Purohit & Sameer Sohoni
* Vice President — Shreeganesh Abhyankar, Sharad Bhattad, Rajesh Nayak & Pankaj Tidke
* Secretary — RB Dhore & Amol Jaltare
* Treasurer — Mangesh Bute & Madhav Lakhe
* Joint secy — PS Chawhan, Shriram Deoras & Bhanubhushan Kumar
* Library in-charge — HM Bobde, Kaustubh Deogade & VC Uberoi
* Executive members — Anirudh Anathakrishnan, Bosco Anthony, P Awathale, Rushak Bawiskar, BA Bhendarkar, U Bhuyar, Abhishek Deshpande, Nishant Gurnani, Aquib Haque, Amol Hunge, MM Kalar, Sagar Katkar, Gaurav Khond, Apurva Kolhe, Akshaya Kshirsagar, Sagar Mhaiske, D Padmagiriwad, Sunita Paul and Ananta Ramteke